(light music)
- [Narrator] This satellite image
from the Port of Sevastopol in Crimea on May 21
shows trucks lined up near a Russian ship
loading stolen Ukrainian grain.
A Russian soldier
who drove one of the trucks around this time
explained the details of the smuggling operation
- [Driver] Left our truck outside port.
Other driver take in,
put wheat on ship, finish.
Two ships, two big ships.
No more, please.
I cannot speak no more.
- [Narrator] In may, the U.S. State Department
sent cables to several countries
stating that three Russian ships,
the Matros Pozynich, Matros Koshka, and Mikhail Nenashev
were suspected of transporting stolen Ukrainian grain.
According to a senior European diplomat
who viewed the cable,
Russian officials have rejected such accusations,
but we found these three ships are part of a smuggling route
that Russia has been developing
to transport stolen grain
out of newly occupied areas of Ukraine
and into Russian allied countries in the Middle East.
We analyzed Telegram posts, satellite imagery,
and ship transponder data,
reviewed documents and interviewed people
involved in the solicit trade
to reveal a 1500 mile smuggling route
that gives us a window into the broader network
Russia has quietly assembled
to transport hundreds of thousands of metric tons of grain
out of Ukraine.
Russia has done this all while obstructing Ukraine
from exporting its own grain and seeds,
up to 70 million metric tons per year,
a large slice of the world's supply
much of which flows to the developing world.
In recent weeks, Ukraine said Turkey detained a Russian ship
with stolen Ukrainian grain while accusations of war crimes
and fears of a global food crisis have mounted.
The main root we uncovered starts in Southeastern Ukraine.
In the occupied City of Kam'yanka-Dniprovs'ka
at one of the largest grain storage facilities in the region
run by a company we aren't naming,
we found evidence of dozens of Russian-controlled trucks
transporting grain from this facility since early May.
The driver, we interviewed, a soldier in the Russian army
who said he doesn't want to fight in the war,
told us that in late May
a Russian Colonel ordered him
to pick up a load of grain at this facility.
- [Driver] With many trucks, 15 trucks.
I had a white Kamaz truck
and I come in the morning.
May 21, 22, the colonel put the trucks on line,
we took wheat in, drive out.
- [Narrator] Each truck
can move around 10 to 50 metric tons of grain
in a single haul.
In photos from the facility
that appear to be from early May reviewed by the journal,
we see trucks covered with tarps, Zs on the front,
and concealed license plates.
The Russian driver we interviewed
confirmed that he and the other drivers in his caravan
drove similar trucks.
Less than two kilometers from the depot,
this photo posted to Facebook on May 19 by a local resident
shows trucks with the same characteristics;
tarps and no license plates
headed away from the grain storage facility.
In satellite imagery from June 11,
we see similar vehicles near the grain silos.
Three days later, we can see a line of them
outside the facility and a few more
in the parking lot as well.
By June 22, there are over 30 of these trucks visible.
The Russian driver said his convoy of trucks
with stolen grain drove Crimea on May 21 or 22.
- [Driver] I hear on the radio we go to Sevastopol.
Many hours, but go same day.
- [Narrator] We also found evidence
that another major grain storage facility
in the region was taken over by the Russian military
seen here on March 26.
A satellite image from the same date and location
shows what appeared to be those same tanks.
This letter from an official installed by Russian forces
informed the company that their property was being seized.
After the takeover, the company said
they were still able to track their stolen trucks using GPS,
which were loaded with grain and also driven into Crimea.
At one of the facilities where grain was taken,
we can see that a Z,
a Russian pro-war symbol has been marked on the roof.
In addition to using truck drivers from the Russian army,
drivers for these routes are also hired
through messages posted to social media,
like this May 24th telegram post by logistics operator
advertising nearly 20 truck route to transport grain,
mostly from newly occupied Russian territory in Ukraine
to Crimea.
This is a route similar to the one our Russian driver took
and offers about $30 per ton in pay.
Ukraine's access to export route out of Crimea
has been largely cut off since the 2014 annexation.
Now, in videos published over the last several weeks,
we see long lines of trucks heading south into the region.
Many resemble the trucks at the grain depot
in Kam'yanka-Dniprovs'ka and fit the description
given by people involved in the trade.
Once in Crimea, the Russian driver
said he and the other drivers dropped off the trucks
at the Sevastopol Port where many tons of grain
were unloaded to conveyor belts
and then moved to waiting ships
- [Driver] Left our truck outside port.
Other driver take in, put wheat on ships.
- [Narrator] In satellite imagery from Sevastopol
on May 19, 21, and 23,
we can see three different ships loading grain,
the same ones listed in the State Department cable.
The Matros Pozynich, Matros Koshka, and Mikhail Nenashev
were all newly registered in the months before the war
to a Russian state-owned company
called Crane Marine Contractor, LLC
according to a ship company database.
Satellite images paired with ship tracking data
from Marine traffic show these same ships
running regular roots from Crimea
to the Eastern Mediterranean since at least late March,
often shutting off their transponders
as they approach ports,
likely in an effort to conceal their locations.
For example, the Matros Pozynich
disappears from tracking data near Istanbul on May 17.
We then see it being loaded with what looks like grain
at the port in Sevastopol two days later.
The ships transponder restarts again on May 21
after it departs Sevastopol.
Over the next two days,
Marine traffic data shows it passes
through the Bosphorus Strait,
which we can see in photos of the waterway from May 22.
The ship's tracking is then turned off again
as it nears its destination
with its last location reported on May 25
in the Mediterranean Sea between Turkey and Cyprus.
Soon after in Latakia, Syria,
satellite imagery shows the ship docked
and its contents being unloaded.
Commodity brokers involved in the network
say the grain was imported
by a Syrian state-run grain company.
After similar journeys from Sevastopol
to the Eastern Mediterranean,
the Mikhail Nenashev docks in Turkey,
the Matros Koshka goes dark for over a week,
but reappears as it heads back towards the Black Sea.
Crane Marine contractor, LLC
and Syria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs
did not respond to requests for comment.
The Russian embassy in Washington, DC
referred us to a prior statement
made by the Russian ambassador to the U.S.
in which he rejected accusations of grain theft.
The frequency of thefts at grain facilities
combined with the repetition of these vessels' journeys,
and the sheer number of trucks traveling into Crimea
shows that Russia is working quickly
to institutionalize its grain smuggling network.
In our last conversation with the Russian truck driver
in late June, he said he was waiting to receive orders
for his next truck route.
- [Driver] I'm at the army station at Sevastopol.
I think I drive again for wheat.
We wait.
(tranquil music)