SSU identified collaborators who helped Russia steal over $200 million worth of Ukrainian grain

The Security Service of Ukraine identified collaborators who helped the Russian Federation steal more than 650,000 tons of Ukrainian grain from the temporarily occupied territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts, reports the SSU press service.

The SSU says that the value of the stolen grain is $200 million. The Ukrainian special service established the entire chain of those involved: the traitors who signed the permits to export the grain and all the crew members of the 10 ships of the Russian Federation on which the loot was transported.

The SSU has documented criminal activity and has already reported the suspicion to:

• Yevhenii Balytskyi, the head of the Russian occupation administration in the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast;
• Oleksandr Saulenko, the self-proclaimed acting mayor of the city of Berdiansk (Zaporizhzhia Oblast);
• Volodymyr Stelmachenko, the "director" of the Berdiansk Seaport.

They were charged under three articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: Part 8 of Art. 111-1 (collaborative activity); Art. 111-2 (assistance to the aggressor state); Part 2 of Art. 28, Part 1 of Art. 438 (violation of laws and customs of war).

In addition, the SSU imposed the seizure on their property (including 4 aircraft of small aviation located in the Kyiv Oblast) and corporate rights belonging to Balytskyi and his family, for a total amount of over UAH 149 million.

The SSU has also identified other participants in this illegal scheme and plans to charge them with suspicion.

Grain-stealing scheme

The SSU established that the collaborator Balytskyi issued an "order" based on which a temporary administration was introduced in the occupied territories. As a result, the property of 7 agro-industrial complexes and grain terminals on the territory of Zaporizhzhia Oblast was transferred to the pseudo-enterprise State Grain Operator.

In addition, the pseudo-mayor of Berdiansk, Saulenko, together with the "director" of the Berdiansk Sea Trade Port, Stelmachenko, ensured the removal of grain from warehouses and its loading onto the Russian-flagged ship Zhibek Zholy.

The SSU also documented the removal of Ukrainian grain stolen from the temporarily occupied territories of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts through seaports and terminals located in the annexed Crimea by sea transport.

Russian- and Syria-flagged vessels were involved in the illegal activity by the Russian side: Nadezhda, Sormovsky-48, Fedor, Matros Koshka, Matros Pozynych, Zhibek Zholy, St. Konstantin, Mikhail Nenashev, LAODICEA.

Thanks to the prompt response of the SSU, the illegal shipment of stolen wheat was prevented. The Ukrainian court seized the mentioned vessels and grain products transported on their board.

Also, Turkey, Egypt, and Lebanon refuse to accept and unload the specified sea vessels.

The SSU also identified 5 more foreign sea vessels that illegally export grain from the seaports of the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories and plans to arrest them.

As part of international cooperation with the law enforcement agencies of the US, Turkey, Lebanon, and other countries, a joint investigation is underway to establish all the circumstances of the offense, in particular, the arrest of sea vessels transporting stolen Ukrainian grain in the ports of their destination.