Belarusian timber enters Poland under false documents, bypassing EU sanctions, new investigation reveals

Belarusian timber enters the EU market despite sanctions, being supplied to Poland under false documentation while passed off as Kazakh wood, according to an investigation by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Schemes project, the Polish outlet Gazeta Wyborcza, and the Belarusian Investigative Center. The EU imposed wide-reaching sanctions against Russia and its ally Belarus in March 2022 in reaction to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The restrictions extended to Belarusian timber, which has been traditionally imported into the EU in an amount worth over $1 billion every year. After the imposition of the sanctions, wood ...