In a recent interview with The Washington Times, Rebecca Bakos Blumenthal, Starvation and Humanitarian Crisis Lead at Global Rights Compliance, and Kateryna Buriakovska, Business and Human Rights Legal Adviser, shed light on the systematic seizure and export of grain and other natural resources from Russia-occupied territories of Ukraine and the legal and commercial risks associated with these practices.
The article examines how Russia is reportedly integrating occupied territories into its economic system through the extraction and export of grain, coal, minerals, and other resources, alongside the development of transport and logistics infrastructure linking these areas to Russia and occupied Crimea.
Russian forces seized grain elevators from the very first days of occupation. Facilities were swiftly re-registered under Russian law, and entities linked to the Russian state or to Russian oligarchs became involved in logistics and transport.
“There are structures precisely put in place to conceal provenance and to conceal how this is being seized and exported and where,” she noted.
Rebecca explained that tracing these resources through international supply chains remains a core challenge that GRC is currently trying to address, relying on satellite imagery, customs records, shipping data, and user-generated content on social media, as well as material published by occupation authorities themselves.
Kateryna highlighted the role and responsibility of businesses operating in or directly linked to conflict-affected environments. She emphasised that buyers, carriers, insurers, traders, and port operators cannot ignore indicators that resources may originate from occupied Ukrainian territory.
“Companies cannot claim that they could not have known. The business and human rights framework says that they should have known,” she said.
The interview also explores the challenges of tracing potentially pillaged resources through international supply chains and the accountability mechanisms available to address their trade.
Read the full article here: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/may/20/russia-accused-stealing-grain-coal-minerals-ukraine-territories/