Agro-Fregat train cars have been recorded rolling through the Crimean port town of Feodosia, where satellite imagery shows trucks and trains lined up as grain was being loaded onto ships. Videos posted on social media in recent months show a steady stream of grain transport trucks moving south through occupied areas of Ukraine with the letter "Z" painted on their sides, a wartime symbol for Russia and its military forces. Despite Russian claims to have annexed Crimea, the United Nations ruled that land grab was also illegal. Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov told AP the occupiers are moving vast quantities of grain from the region by train and truck to ports in Russia and Crimea, a strategic Ukrainian peninsula that Russia has occupied since 2014. The United States and European Union immediately rejected "the illegal annexation." Putin signed treaties Friday to annex four occupied regions of Ukraine into the Russian Federation, in defiance of international law. 15 for overseeing the theft and export of Ukranian grain. Siguta, along with four other top Russian occupation officials, was sanctioned by the U.S. "It's just pure pillaging and looting, and that is also an actionable offense under international military law." The Russians "have an absolute obligation to ensure that civilians are cared for and to not deprive them their ability of a livelihood and an ability to feed themselves," said David Crane, a veteran prosecutor who has been involved in numerous international war crime investigations. Meanwhile, the Russian military has attacked farms, grain silos and shipping facilities still under Ukrainian control with artillery and air strikes, destroying food, driving up prices and reducing the flow of grain from a country long known as the breadbasket of Europe. The ongoing theft, which legal experts say is a potential war crime, is being carried out by wealthy businessmen and state-owned companies in Russia and Syria, some of them already facing financial sanctions from the United States and European Union. Reporters reviewed shipping manifests, searched social media posts, and interviewed farmers, shippers and corporate officials to uncover the details of the massive smuggling operation. But an investigation by The Associated Press and the PBS series "Frontline" has found the Laodicea, owned by Syria, is part of a sophisticated Russian-run smuggling operation that has used falsified manifests and seaborne subterfuge to steal Ukrainian grain worth at least $530 million - cash that has helped feed President Vladimir Putin's war machine.ĪP used satellite imagery and marine radio transponder data to track three dozen ships making more than 50 voyages carrying grain from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine to ports in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and other countries.
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