Belarus continues to supply wood to the EU bypassing sanctions

Belarusian wood, despite the sanctions of the European Union, continues to be delivered to the EU countries. It can be imported under the guise of Kazakhstan under false documents. This is stated in a joint investigation of the "Belarusian Investigative Center", the project of the Ukrainian service of the Radio Liberty " Scheme " and the Polish " Newspaper of the Varions ".

Journalists discovered a sharp increase in wood exports from Kazakhstan to the EU in 2023. Over the year, the EU purchased Kazakhstani wood for almost 126 million euros. Prior to the imposition of sanctions on the Belarusian forest in 2022, imports from Kazakhstan were almost zero, investigators say.

The largest part of deliveries goes to the EU through Poland. Import to this country last year grew almost five times compared to 2022: from 14 to almost 68 million euros. In Latvia, export increased from 3.5 to 11 million. Lithuania reduced imports, but still retained it at the level of 5.5 million euros.

Journalists gained access to the invoices of one of the parties of such goods. The document contained signs of fake. The representative of the Polish importer told reporters that he did not sign the papers and intend to contact the police.

Moscow and Minsk were the main suppliers of forest products for the EU. The European Union hoped to reduce the income of the regimes of Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko by billions of euros, forbidding to buy timber from them.

In 2022, investigators released material on the rewinding of Russian and Belarusian products to the Central Asian. The material noted that according to statistics, the imports of wood to the EU from Kazakhstan grew after the introduction of sanctions by 74 times. From Kyrgyzstan - 18 thousand times.