Scheme covers the entire EU and wants foreign companies and European merchants admitted, according to the investigation, with images and audios, having violated the sanctions in a process that they call “gold mine”
An illegal scheme is putting in the European Union (EU) Russian Birch countries, a trade valued at 1.5 billion euros, with Portugal receiving about a thousand illegal birchy plywood trucks.
According to the investigation of a British non-governmental organization (NGO) there is a Russian wood bleaching scheme for the EU, violating sanctions, which only for Portugal has a value of over 100 million euros.
The scheme covers the entire EU and wants foreign companies and European merchants admitted, according to the investigation, with images and audios, having violated the sanctions in a process that they call “gold mine.”
The NGO that did the investigation, “Eartsight”, says seven of the top 10 Russian wooden exporters continue to supply the EU and the profits go to the oligarchs that met Vladimir Putin the day Ukraine was invaded.
Forests, all state -owned, are an important source of recipes for the Russian war machine, says the organization.
In the EU companies that make toys, floors and furniture, as well as the world’s largest climbing wall manufacturer, were identified as having bought exporters, who admitted to having transacted illegal wood but denied having committed any infraction.
With the title “Blood Spotted Birch: Exposing the EU Trade of Conflict PHRAPHOCK”, the investigation caught companies, through chambers, voice calls and internal documents, to organize a constant flow of Russian wood to the EU whose Buyers are important manufacturers.
Elements of “EarthSight”, a UK NGO that uses in-depth investigations to expose environmental and social crimes, injustices and links to global consumption, have been passing buyers for nine months and recorded traders to admit the crime.
The NGO estimates that more than 500,000 cubic meters of wood have left Russia to third countries and then to the EU since the imposition of sanctions in July 2022. Of these, more than 30,000 cubic meters of wood, equivalent to 990 trucks, They arrived in Portugal, with a retail value of 103.1 million euros.
Every day they reach the ports and borders of the EU the equivalent of 20 large wooden trucks (700 cubic meters). The largest volumes are sent to Poland, followed by Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Estonia.
The NGO specifies that among Russian exporters who continue to supply birch are the oligarchs Alexei Mordashov and Vladimir Yevtushenkov, and says that Belarusian state -owned companies are helping in trade and also selling forbidden wooden products to the EU.
Russian companies told investigators that they bleach wood through countries such as Kazakhstan or Turkey, although most of Madeira passes through China.
EarthSight recorded merchants to admit to having bought, to sell, illegal Russian plywood and reveals the name of several client companies. He also says that he has been sharing conclusions with the authorities throughout the EU, without major answers, appealing to greater leadership in this matter by the European Commission.
The document also reveals that many of the companies involved in the illegal counterplanted are proclaimed as ethics and display the FSC certificate, “Forest Stewardship Council”, the largest green label in the world for Madeira. It happens with implicated in the process of Poland, China, Kazakhstan, Estonia, Italy or Spain, cited in the document.
Tianma Lvjian, a Chinese company that the investigation suggests to be the largest birch counter-pity smuggler, offered to label the gleamed Russian counterplack with an FSC stamp at the additional cost of 50 euros per cubic meter.
“The fact that so many companies get involved in illegal wood smuggling while holding FSC certificates underlines broader structural failures within the FSC,” he warns of the document now released.
The NGO also says that the investigation shows that despite the “unbridled bleaching” the EU sanctions reduced the flow of Russian wood to Europe by about 80%, depriving Russian exports in an estimated 10 billion euros until the end of 2024 and saving 100 million trees.
But, he points out, about one fifth of the birch plywood consumed in Europe is illegal wood. Poland is the largest entry point in Europe but the NGO suggests that other countries take action. And he quotes them: Spain, Italy, Greece, Germany, Bulgaria, Estonia, Slovenia and Portugal.
“We have urged the Portuguese government to investigate the entire birch plywood that enters the country and end the bloodstained trade,” said Tara Ganesh, leader of “EarthSight”.
