Sanctions circumvention: Belarusian fertilisers enter Ukraine under the guise of Turkmen fertilisers
10 October 2024 08:36
The Belarusian plant Grodna Azot, which is subject to sanctions in Ukraine, has found a way to circumvent them and supply mineral fertilisers to the country through a complex scheme with Bulgaria, the UAE, Turkmenistan and the Ukrainian company Oscar Optima. This became known from an investigation by the Belarusian service of Radio Liberty, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
The editorial office received documents from the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv, which are based on the Ukrainian investigation. According to them, Belarusian fertilisers were initially shipped by rail to the Russian port of Rostov-on-Don. From there, they were transported by sea to the Bulgarian port of Burgas, where they were repacked in new bags. The products were then transported to the port of Ruse on the Danube, and from there to the Izmail seaport in Ukraine.
To disguise the origin of the goods, forged certificates were used to indicate alleged Turkmen production. However, as noted in the investigation, Turkmenistan does not produce this type of fertiliser at all.
Two companies are involved in the case. One of them is Agro chain general trading LLC, registered in the United Arab Emirates by Turkish citizens. It was this company that supplied the products to Ukraine. Documents show that in April 2023, the company supplied fertilisers worth $1.1 million.
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In Ukraine, the consignee of the cargo was Oscar Optima, a company registered in Kharkiv with the owner Valeriy Andrushchenko. The investigation into its activities has been ongoing since January 2023. During the investigation, correspondence with the heads of the Dubai company was found in the phone of one of the representatives of the Ukrainian company, which confirmed that Grodna Azot was the real fertiliser producer. Thus, the Ukrainian company was aware of the origin of the fertiliser from the sanctioned Belarusian plant. According to Opendatabot, in 2023, the company registered UAH 681,100 in net profit.
It is worth noting that Grodno Azot is the only enterprise in Belarus that produces urea. The company was hit by EU sanctions in December 2021 for dismissing employees who took part in protests after the 2020 presidential election. Ukraine also imposed sanctions on the company after the full-scale Russian invasion.
An examination by the Institute of Forensic Expertise of Ukraine confirmed that the fertilisers supplied by Oscar Optima fully corresponded to the samples of products manufactured in Grodno.
The case has been under investigation in Ukraine by the Security Service of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General’s Office since 23 March 2023.
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