Belarusian Agroprodukt's Illicit Rapeseed Oil Exports to the EU Uncovered

The journalists found out that the Belarusian company Agroprodukt uses rapeseed illegally exported from the temporarily occupied areas of Kherson region. This raw material is processed into rapeseed oil, which is subsequently exported to the European Union, in particular to Lithuania and Latvia.

This was reported by Radio Liberty.

According to the Federal Information System "Grain", in 2023, almost 5 thousand tons of rapeseed were exported from the occupied part of the Kherson region to Belarus. Part of this harvest went to Belarusian Agroproduct, which is one of the largest suppliers of rapeseed oil to the EU.

Despite the fact that since June 2024, Lithuania has banned imports of Belarusian food products, including rapeseed oil, the investigation revealed that Agroprodukt's products are still being shipped to the EU. Logistics companies from Lithuania and Latvia confirmed to journalists their cooperation with the Belarusian company.

According to Eurostat, in the first half of 2024 alone, the EU imported more than 90 thousand tons of rapeseed oil from Belarus worth €67 million. The main buyers were Lithuania and Latvia.

Investigators found that Agroprodukt is linked to Belarusian officials. One of the company's co-founders is Transit-Auto 2003, a company that is under Ukrainian sanctions for helping the Russian army.

The owner of Transit-Auto 2003 , Aleksei Shvedov, visited Ukraine together with Aleksandr Zaitsev, who works in the Presidential Administration of Belarus, and Konstantin Sumar, former governor of Brest Oblast, who called Lukashenka "a little bit higher than God."

In public interviews, Agroproduct director Oleg Teslyuk boasted of his connections in the government, saying that his "requests are always considered."

Agroproduct is not on the EU or Ukrainian sanctions lists, which allows it to sell its products to Europe without hindrance.

Vladyslav Vlasyuk, the Presidential Commissioner for Sanctions Policy, said that such actions by a foreign company pose real threats to Ukraine's national interests and could therefore be grounds for imposing sanctions.

The journalists asked Agroproduct's director, Oleh Tesliuk, for a comment, but he refused to answer questions.

Андрій Колісніченко