Collaborator Saldo will be tried for organizing the export of grain from the occupied Kherson region

Volodymyr Saldo is suspected of creating a scheme to appropriate and export Ukrainian grain from the occupied Kherson region worth more than UAH 5.3 billion.

The Prosecutor General’s Office has sent an indictment to the court against the head of the Russian occupation administration in the Kherson region, Volodymyr Saldo. This was reported by the press service of the department.

According to the investigation, after the capture of the region by Russian troops, Saldo voluntarily agreed to head the occupation administration and established control over the agricultural sector.

In 2022, under his leadership, a systematic scheme for the forced seizure of agricultural products was deployed. Grain and other resources were taken from farmers, and enterprises whose owners refused to cooperate or left the territory were seized along with their property, including grain terminals.

According to the investigation, the total amount of illegally appropriated products exceeds UAH 5.3 billion.

After that, as law enforcement officers established, Saldo organized the logistics of exporting grain. The products were transported by road and rail to the ports of temporarily occupied Crimea, as well as to Russia — in particular, to the Krasnodar Territory and the Rostov Region.

The grain was then exported abroad by sea under the guise of grain of Russian origin. Among the main destinations are Syria, Egypt, Turkey, and Lebanon.

Nine participants in this scheme have already appeared in court. They are accused of violating the norms of international humanitarian law, in particular the Geneva Convention, as well as the laws and customs of war.

The Prosecutor General’s Office emphasized that the transfer of Saldo’s case to court is a key stage in bringing the organizers of the scheme to justice. The next step may be to consider the case in the International Criminal Court.

Recall that earlier, another collaborator, Yevhen Balytsky, who also organized the illegal export of Ukrainian grain from the occupied territories, was sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia for similar actions.