Russia May Have Imported Wheat From Occupied Ukrainian Territories to Egypt

A Russian company that purchases grain from occupied territories in Ukraine has supplied over 20,000 tons of wheat to Egypt, according to an investigation by IStories and OCCRP. Previously, it was unknown that Egypt had begun accepting Russian vessels carrying grain harvested from territories not controlled by Ukraine.

On December 30, 2024, the vessel Mikhail Nenashov docked in the Egyptian port of Alexandria. According to the Russian sanitary certificate issued by Rosselkhoznadzor, the cargo — over 27,000 tons of wheat — was initially intended for Syria, which Ukraine has already accused of participating in the smuggling of Ukrainian grain. However, after the Syrian president escaped on December 8, the vessel remained near Cyprus for almost three weeks before heading towards the shores of Egypt.

However, data from the Maritime Transport and Logistics Agency of Egypt indicates that the cargo weighed 24,200 tons — approximately 3,000 tons less than stated in the Russian sanitary certificate, but the reason for this discrepancy is unclear. The documents also do not specify the value of the cargo, but based on the average global wheat price in December, it could be around $6.7 million.

The buyer is the Egyptian agency Mostakbal Misr for Sustainable Development, a development arm of the Egyptian armed forces. It was recently appointed as the country’s main importer of wheat and other goods, replacing Egypt’s state food procurement agency.

Egypt is a major market for Russian grain exports. However, the country previously turned away a vessel that Ukraine believed was filled with stolen grain from the occupied territories.

The Russian company Pallada is listed as the exporter in the document. The company received small batches of wheat from the occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast for two months prior to the shipment, totaling about 126 tons, according to quarantine certificates.

At the same time, it is impossible to verify whether the cargo delivered to Egypt contained grain specifically from these regions.

Earlier, Katerina Yaresko from the SeaKrime investigative project of the Ukrainian Myrotvorets wrote, without citing a source, that the vessel was loaded at the end of November at the Avlita terminal in the port of Sevastopol. The sanitary certificate for the grain, which we reviewed, indicates the name of the Rosselkhoznadzor employee who issued it: according to leaks, she lives in Sevastopol. The employee did not respond to a request for comment.

Yoruk Isik, an analyst at the Middle East Institute, says that if the cargo did indeed depart from Sevastopol, this is another argument in favor of the grain having been brought from the occupied territories of Ukraine. According to him, grain from Russia is easier to transport to other ports, such as Novorossiysk.

Little is known about Pallada itself. The company was registered in August 2022 and is 89% owned by a certain Sergey Kuznetsov. The website of Ukrainian military intelligence reported that Pallada exported grain from occupied Crimea. Journalists also wrote that Pallada received permission to export barley from the occupied part of the Kherson Oblast to Iran.

A New York Times article, citing State Department data, also indicated that the Mikhail Nenashov vessel was transporting grain from the occupied part of Ukraine. In 2022, Ukraine also appealed to Turkey for assistance in investigating the Mikhail Nenashov and two other vessels that had entered Turkish ports, which may have been carrying grain from the occupied territories.

According to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) of the UN, the Mikhail Nenashov belongs to the Russian company Crane Marine Contractor (part of the state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation). In response to an OCCRP inquiry, the IMO stated that it had urged states “to inform their vessels, shipowners, ship operators and insurance brokers of the need to refrain from violating the regime of closed seaports” in the occupied territories of Ukraine.

Crane Marine Contractor, Pallada, and the Egyptian Mostakbal Misr did not respond to requests for comment. Rosselkhoznadzor did not provide a comment by the time of publication.

Featuring Maria Zholobova (IStories), Elena Loginova, Anna Babinets (OCCRP, Slidstvo.Info), and Maksym Dudchenko (KibOrg)