Belarus imports timber to Poland despite sanctions

At least some of the timber imported through Poland to the European Union, allegedly from Kazakhstan, may actually be of Belarusian origin, thus circumventing the sanctions imposed in March 2022.

This is evidenced by a joint investigation by Radio Liberty's Schemes project, the Belarusian Investigative Centre, and the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.

According to Eurostat, in 2022-2023, a record of almost 126 million euros worth of timber was imported from Kazakhstan to the EU. Poland accounted for the vast majority of this: in 2023 alone, it was almost €68 million.

At the same time, before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kazakh timber was almost never imported into the EU: forests account for only 5% of the country's territory. This prompted journalists to check whether Belarus, a former major exporter of timber, was circumventing sanctions.

The journalists checked one of the contracts for almost a million euros between the allegedly Kazakh company Nurr-electro and the Polish company PLRBL, as well as the data on the product specification and customs declarations. It turned out that Nurr-electro was unaware of the contract, and that the seals and signatures on the documents were probably forged.

Author - Olena Madiak, 26/03/2024