Stolen Grain: EU Condemns Israeli Actions That Fund Russia’s Invasion

(KYIV) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has threatened to impose sanctions on Israeli individuals and businesses, accusing the country of importing grain stolen by Russia from occupied parts of Ukraine.

The escalating dispute has seen Ukraine summon the Israeli ambassador and Israeli ministers accusing their Ukrainian counterparts of engaging in Twitter diplomacy. All this comes against the backdrop of the Israeli government maintaining ties with Moscow despite the invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine is known as the bread basket of Europe owing to its rich, fertile black soil, which has helped it become one of the world’s top grain exporters. Since invading Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has claimed four eastern and southern regions of Ukraine as its own: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia, as well as Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. Russia calls these regions its new territories, although it does not actually control all the territory it has annexed, and the regions are internationally recognised as Ukrainian.

Ukrainian authorities, backed up by multiple investigative reports, have accused Russia of stealing grain from occupied Ukraine and exporting it via sea, an act which generates funds for the Russian dictator’s war machine. Russia uses an array of methods to evade detection, international sanctions, and so on, including turning off ships’ transponders before entering Russian or Russian occupied ports, transferring grain to different ships at sea, and laundering it by mixing it with legitimate Russian produce.

Earlier in April, the Abinsk, a Russian flagged bulk carrier, docked in the Israeli port city of Haifa. Ukrainian authorities say the ship was carrying wheat taken from occupied Ukraine and that they informed their Israeli counterparts before the Abinsk arrived in Haifa, requesting that they detain the vessel and its cargo. However, in mid April, much to Ukraine’s frustration, the Abinsk docked at Haifa, unloaded its cargo, and went on its way.

A recent investigation by the Israeli newspaper Harets indicates that this was not the first time that stolen Ukrainian grain had been imported for the Israeli market since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and that four shipments of stolen Ukrainian grain had already been unloaded in Israel this year alone. This week, the diplomatic spat escalated further as Ukraine urged Israel to take action over another vessel, the Panamanian flagged Panomitus, which was approaching Haifa and was said to be carrying stolen grain.

On Monday, with the ship having arrived in Haifa, Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha warned that Israel accepting the stolen grain would harm Ukraine Israel relations and said that the Israeli ambassador had been summoned. This was met with a cold reaction from Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar, who said diplomatic relations are not conducted on Twitter or in the media and accused Ukraine of failing to provide substantive evidence.

In the face of apparent Israeli inaction on Tuesday, President Zelenskyy wrote, “This is not and cannot be legitimate business. The Israeli authorities cannot be unaware of which ships are arriving at the country’s ports and what cargo they are carrying.” He added that Ukraine was preparing a sanctions package that would cover both those directly transporting this grain and the individuals and legal entities attempting to profit from this criminal scheme.

The EU, meanwhile, condemned all actions that help fund Russia’s illegal war effort and circumvent EU sanctions and said it remains ready to target such actions by listing individuals and entities in third countries if necessary. Exactly what happens with this grain issue, whether it is resolved or whether it escalates, remains to be seen, but it forms part of a long running straining of tensions between Ukraine and Israel.

At face value, there are many reasons why Ukraine and Israel should have close relations. They are both in the Western camp. There are something like half a million Israelis with Ukrainian background and tens of thousands of Jews in Ukraine, including President Zelenskyy. However, tensions have emerged as a result of Israel’s ties with Russia.

For instance, the Netanyahu led Israeli government did not join the West in condemning Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, instead staking out a more neutral position. Over the years, Netanyahu developed a close relationship with the Russian dictator, something he made visible during the 2019 Israeli election with a giant poster of the pair shaking hands. Coordination between Israel and Russia was important in creating a deconfliction mechanism in Syria to prevent them inadvertently clashing amid their separate interventions in the civil war.

Netanyahu was in opposition when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, but the Naftali Bennett led Israeli government largely continued with his predecessor’s approach. In the immediate aftermath of the invasion, Bennett towed a cautious line, refraining from personally condemning Russia’s actions. In early March 2022, Zelenskyy expressed disappointment in the Israeli prime minister for not doing enough in support of Ukraine. Israel initially supplied humanitarian aid to Ukraine and later agreed to send flak jackets and helmets to the country’s rescue services, but refrained from joining the Western led sanctions effort against Russia and refused requests for military aid.

This position unsurprisingly continued after Netanyahu’s return to office in late 2022 with him rejecting demands for Israel to provide embattled Ukraine with its world famous Iron Dome air defence system. However, post October 7th, there has been a cooling of Israel Russia relations. Israel, for example, was angered by Russia’s hosting of a Hamas delegation in late 2023. And most obviously, Russia’s increasingly close alliance with Iran, which along with its proxies has come into direct conflict with Israel, is another major cause of contention. Strangely, this does not seem to have engendered warmer relations between Israel and Ukraine.

Last year, Israel joined Russia, the US, and others in voting against a resolution condemning and marking the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As recently as last December, Netanyahu said that he speaks with the Russian dictator on a regular basis, and that this personal relationship of many years serves Israel’s vital interests. It is likely that the significant proportion of Israelis who come from a Russian background and Russia’s sizable Jewish population are a factor in Netanyahu’s thinking. Furthermore, while Russia ally Assad is gone from Syria, Syria is still a notable factor. In fact, Israel reportedly wanted Russia to maintain its military presence in a post Assad Syria as a check against Turkish influence.

It is still pretty remarkable though that the emergence of the Russia Iran axis and the fact that both Israel and Ukraine are under attack from Iranian made drones has not pushed Israel to take a harder public line on Russia and align more closely with Ukraine. To be fair, the US’s warming of ties with Russia under Trump has made it easier for Israel to defy international pressure in relation to Russia. That being said, Israel, and specifically Netanyahu, who like the Russian dictator is increasingly being treated like a pariah and faces international arrest warrants and court orders, has proven highly willing to defy international pressure in recent years.