Despite the imposed sanctions, Russia and Belarus continue to sell wood to the European Union. It is passed off as raw material allegedly of Kazakh or Kyrgyz origin.
This is stated in the investigation of the Belarusian investigative center, the Lithuanian publication Siena and the organization of investigative journalists OCCRP.
Belarus and Russia were the main suppliers of wood for the member states of the European Union. But after the start of the full-scale invasion, the EU banned the purchase of timber to deprive the Russian Federation and Belarus of money for the war. However, after the ban on imports to EU countries, supplies from Central Asia increased sharply.
The territories of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are almost not covered with forests, both countries produce almost no wood. But according to the documents, the import of wood to the EU from these two countries increased 66.6 times in six months compared to last year. Most of the wood is imported through Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany and Denmark.
Journalists discovered several companies that promised to make false documentation for the Belarusian forest. They later denied that they were talking about circumventing sanctions.