Russia has added Mariupol and Berdyansk to the list of ports open to calls by foreign ships.

Source: Centre for Transport Strategies (CTS)

Quote: “The order was signed by Mikhail Mishustin, the Prime Minister of the aggressor state. Representatives of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic believe this will allow the occupiers to step up the removal of stolen products from Donbas and the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.”

Details: The main cargo handled by the Port of Mariupol is metal, coal and grain. Russia plans to intensify the removal of grain and coal stolen in Ukraine from these ports, the site notes.

Earlier, the site reported that the volume of stolen subsoil resources shipped through the Port of Mariupol amounts to 40-60,000 tonnes per month. And more than 300,000 tonnes of looted grain were illegally exported via the Port of Berdyansk last year.

Background:

Russia has resumed grain supplies to Syria, including stolen Ukrainian grain.The Kremlin plans to increase the share of grain stolen from the Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine in Russia’s overall harvest, as this year Russia itself will collect only a limited harvest due to drought, sanctions, and limited access to machinery, while grain sales in June already dropped by 34.5%.The role of the territories of Ukraine occupied by Russia in Russia’s agricultural sector is growing.Thus, in Luhansk this year they expect the harvest to double: last year this occupied territory collected half a million tonnes of grain; next year they promise to collect one million.It was previously reported that Ukraine plans to appeal to the European Union to impose sanctions on Bangladeshi companies importing wheat from Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia. Bangladesh has failed to stop this trade even after Ukraine officially stated that the grain was stolen and provided evidence.Earlier reports suggested that Russia had been supplying what was likely stolen Ukrainian grain to the Houthis, who control most of Yemen. This conclusion was drawn by Bellingcat and Lloyd’s List after studying the movement of a ship transporting grain.A Russian state-owned company exported almost 212,000 tonnes of grain from the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast in 2023 alone, worth an estimated US$46 million. Ukrainian grain is being shipped to Türkiye, Libya and Israel.

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