Belarus bypasses sanctions to supply timber to EU – investigation (documents)

Some companies export sanctioned Belarusian timber to the European Union, presenting it as products from Kazakhstan. This was stated in the investigation of the Schemes project by Radio Liberty, the Belarusian Investigation Center and the Polish publication Gazeta Wyborcza, published on March 26.

As journalists noted, in response to Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, the European Union introduced a number of restrictions on the import of certain goods from Belarus, which the Russian army uses as a base for its military operations against Ukraine. In March 2022, the EU also imposed sanctions on Belarusian timber, which was previously traditionally exported to Europe.

These sanctions affected the dynamics of the wood market in Europe and led to a noticeable increase in the import of wood products from Kazakhstan. According to Eurostat data, between 2022 and 2023, a record amount of wood worth approximately 126 million euros was imported from the country, mainly from Poland.

The volume of timber imports from Kazakhstan to Poland last year increased almost fivefold compared to 2022, reaching almost 68 million euros.

It is surprising that before this, Kazakhstan, where forests covered only 5% of its territory, supplied almost no wood to Europe, unlike Belarus, which exported wood worth about a billion euros to Europe annually.

The increase in wood imports from Kazakhstan (at lower prices) in the last two years was noticed by the Polish Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Woodworking Industry. The representative of this chamber, Piotr Garstka, expressed the opinion that this could be an attempt to circumvent sanctions from Russia and Belarus.

The package of documents presented to journalists on the supply of wood from Kazakhstan to Poland included a contract between the Kazakh company Nurr-elektro and the Polish company PLRBL worth almost one million euros, as well as data on product characteristics and customs declarations.

One of these documents, dated late January 2023, included the stamps of the Polish buyer company, which was the Kazakh supplier company, as well as the information that the pine fence was sent from Kazakhstan to Poland. The document also contained the seals of the Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan and the carrier Belarusian company Gallardo.

When journalists approached the representative of the Kazakh company Nurr-elektro, lawyer Arman Tulievich, he denied the fact that he was supplying wood to Europe for Polish PLRBL, claiming that there was no such operation. However, after handing over the contract and documents, he claimed that the signatures and seals on the documents were fake.

To verify this information, journalists turned to two graphic design experts who claimed that the seals and signatures on the documents were added using a photo editor.

According to journalists, this indicates that the goods are not supplied from Kazakhstan. This version is confirmed by the fact that there is no information about such supply in the Kazakhstan export database.

To clarify the details of the delivery, journalists contacted a representative of the Belarusian company Gallardo. He confirmed that the wood was brought from Belarus, not Kazakhstan, and that the process was carried out jointly with another Belarusian company, SO RBL.

The owner of SO RBL, Oleg Yanovich, also heads the board of directors of the Polish company PLRBL, which allegedly bought the Kazakh fence. When journalists contacted Oleg Yanovich, he refused to comment on the situation.

“Although wood imports from officially treeless Kazakhstan to the European Union have increased significantly, this research has shown that not all of this wood is Kazakh, some of it comes from Belarus. However, how significant this share is is still a matter of curiosity. It is not known. It is not known. To determine this for, “All customs declarations for Kazakh timber need to be received and checked. It also turns out that you do not need to make complex plans for the import of sanctioned wood from Belarus to Poland. Journalists noted that it is enough to learn to work in Photoshop at an amateur level.

Let us recall that in February 2024 it became known that the Italian arms manufacturer Beretta was still importing small arms to Russia through a subsidiary. According to Russian journalists, after the start of the occupation, a total of more than 835 thousand cartridges and 5.9 thousand light weapons produced by the Italian holding entered Russia.

Earlier, journalists learned that the Latvian National Armed Forces receives food from Russia and Belarus. In particular, Russian tea and Belarusian salt were provided.