Investigation: Poland imports Russian rapeseed, although it has banned Ukrainian rapeseed

Despite the embargo on some types of agricultural products from Ukraine, Poland continues to import the same items from Russia and Belarus.

Thousands of Polish trucks with Russian agricultural products travel through Belarus to Poland and back. This is stated in the investigation of UP journalist Mykhailo Tkach.

So, at the request of the publication’s editors, an unknown man called the Polish company and introduced himself as the manager of a real Belarusian agricultural company. The man offered a Polish “colleague” rapeseed meal at a price of 255 euros. He clarified that the grain is of Russian origin, but the documents will indicate that it is allegedly Belarusian. The respondent asked to send him a detailed offer by e-mail.

The UP emphasized that in September 2023, after farmers’ protests, Poland banned the import of rapeseed meal from Ukraine. At the same time, the import of products “from Belarus” is steadily increasing.

We will remind that Mykhailo Tkach was recently detained at the border with Poland, when he was filming material for an investigation into Polish-Belarusian-Russian trade. According to the UP, law enforcement agencies deleted part of the material collected by the journalist.

Probably, following this and after that, the head of the Polish government, Donald Tusk, said that Poland will study the experience of Latvia regarding the introduction of an embargo on the import of agricultural products from the Russian Federation and, perhaps, will soon take similar steps.

Agrarians from Lithuania sided with Ukraine the day before. According to farmers, a much bigger problem for the agricultural market is Russian grain entering the country.