How does looting actually work? For weeks we have investigated the grain trade out of occupied Ukraine - finding a rare trove of documents, and a complex shadow operation by private companies and arms of the Russian state itself.
w @xtophercook+@laurapitel
ft.com/content/89b06f…
w @xtophercook+@laurapitel
ft.com/content/89b06f…
The documents - including invoices, cargo manifests, certificates of origin - provide a complete paper trail for one shipment of milling wheat, from occupied Zaporizhzhia to the global market.
They also show how cover stories are produced...
They also show how cover stories are produced...
We have corroborated the paperwork using satellite imagery (@planet), shipping transponder data (@SeaMaritech), interviews with smugglers and traders -- and on the ground boat-spotting in northern Turkey, by the amazing @YorukIsik.
Unlike much of the reporting around the grain trade, which has pointed out vessels coming from ports in Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, our reporting focuses on the Berdyansk port and what may be the third cargo ship to dock there since the port was occupied this March
The Russian grain shipper tells us we've got it all wrong. So I guess you have to read the story!
“I sold the cargo.. and the Turks are perfectly content with the Russian documents that I gave them. The stuff you’re digging for — that it was in Berdyansk? — that’s all nonsense.”
“I sold the cargo.. and the Turks are perfectly content with the Russian documents that I gave them. The stuff you’re digging for — that it was in Berdyansk? — that’s all nonsense.”
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