russia increased wheat exports to Syria from occupied Crimea by almost 20 times — Reuters

russia has increased wheat exports from the temporarily occupied Crimea to Syria by 17 times. This is almost a third of the total import of grain into the country.

Reuters writes about this, Rubryka reports.

As a result of the sanctions, the transportation of goods between Syria and russia by ordinary sea transport and marine insurance became more difficult. Countries began to rely on their own ships for further transportation of agricultural products.

According to data from the trade and information platform Refinitiv, by the end of November this year, Syria imported about 502 thousand tons of wheat from Sevastopol, despite the fact that last year it received up to 28.2 thousand tons from there.

It is also noted that shipments to Syria began to increase in May, and the largest batch of exports took place in October — 78.6 thousand tons.

The Embassy of Ukraine in Beirut, which tracks the cargo, is convinced that the russian occupiers stole the exported grain. The embassy noted that the calculations and allegations of russian theft were based on information from owners of fields and silos in the temporarily occupied territories, as well as satellite information and ship tracking data.

According to Bloomberg data, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, russia has stolen about $1 billion worth of wheat from Ukraine.