Since 2022, when Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, the EU, USA, Japan, and other countries have imposed sanctions on wood and seafood from Russia and Belarus, which, it must be said, are often incomplete. Furthermore, Russian and Belarusian companies have learned to circumvent them by passing off their products as goods from other countries. On 2 May, the Ukrainian Parliament officially called on partner countries to strengthen sanctions against Russian and Belarusian wood and seafood.
On 2 May, the Ukrainian Parliament officially decided to approach partner countries, calling on them to strengthen sanctions against Russian and Belarusian wood and seafood. This call was made after analysing the effectiveness and scope of the sanctions imposed on Russia and its main partner, Belarus.
The EU imposed its first significant sanctions against Russia back in 2014, following the illegal annexation of Crimea. It was not until 2022, after the invasion of Ukraine, that the EU and other countries began applying strict sanctions against Russia and Belarus.
One of the main groups of goods subjected to sanctions was wood and wood products. As early as March, the EU banned the export of wood and certain wood products from Belarus. In April, sanctions were extended to include wood and certain wood products from Russia. The USA, Japan, and several other countries also imposed various sanctions on Russian wood.
The sanctions imposed have dealt a significant blow to the Russian woodworking industry, which was valued at 14 billion US dollars annually prior to 2022. Western companies, such as IKEA, Stora Enso or Mondi, announced that they were ceasing production in Russia. Russian companies faced major difficulties in organising business and suffered serious losses.
The sanctions, which have been in force for over a year, have revealed shortcomings and problems. Firstly, there are schemes that allow Russian and Belarusian wood subject to sanctions to reach EU and US markets. For example, as early as September 2022, investigators from the Environmental Investigation Agency discovered that birch plywood from Russia was being passed off as Vietnamese or Chinese plywood and continuing to reach the US market.
Problems still persist regarding the sanctions imposed by the EU. For instance, according to OCCRP data, companies are evading sanctions by misrepresenting Russian and Belarusian wood as having come from Central Asian countries. There are similar examples where Russian wood biomass is exported to Turkey and subsequently, potentially, to EU countries.
Secondly, the sanctions imposed are incomplete. For example, EU sanctions against Belarus prohibit the import of wood but not wooden furniture. Therefore, as an investigation by Earthsight shows, major European furniture retailers continue to buy Belarusian furniture produced in prisons using the forced labour of political prisoners. Likewise, the sanctions do not cover certain types of wooden furniture from Russia, nor various other wood products.
The Russian and Belarusian forestry and woodworking sectors continue to use machinery and equipment from Western companies, many of which (such as Komatsu, Liebherr, and dozens of other firms) have not left Russia and Belarus. All of this continues to supply the Russian war machine with the funds needed to continue the war in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Parliament is calling on partner countries to strengthen sanctions against Russian and Belarusian wood (as well as seafood), in particular: to impose a complete ban on the import of all types of wood and seafood, any products derived from them, and also to ban the sale and servicing of any equipment and machinery used in these industries within Russia and Belarus.