Rise of Russian export into EU must be studied - Ukraine’s PM

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal finds it important to study the question of why the export of Russian goods to the EU has been on the rise after the full-scale invasion.

He touched on the issue during a press conference on the results of the government's four years of work, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"What’s striking me is that the total weight of exports from Russia to EU countries in 2022 stood at 4.9 million tons, of which about 300,000 tons was grain and 200,000 tons was other agricultural products. And in 2023, it was 5.1 million tons in 11 months. That is, despite the war, sanctions, and the blocked border, exports from Russia to Europe are on the rise. And this includes grain, corn, and other agricultural products. And this is also all in millions of tons. And this is, accordingly, funding the Russian budget. And this is the share where Polish and Ukrainian farmers could be on the market. That is the issue," Shmyhal said.

He is convinced that the problem must be thoroughly studied come up with the solution on how to act in response.

"That is, if today there is a question of who should be on the European market: a Ukrainian farmer, a Polish farmer, or Russian agri-companies, then the answer is obvious. That's why we need to look for this mechanism, we called on our Polish friends to do so and we call on the European Commission to do so, too," the head of government said.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, since February 9, 2024, Polish farmers have been protesting on the roads leading to checkpoints at the border with Ukraine. Their main demands include a ban on the import of Ukrainian agricultural products and Poland's rejection of the European Green Deal.

Since protests emerged, there have been five cases where Ukrainian agricultural products were dumped from freight rail cars onto the tracks or from trucks – onto the roads.

From 13:00 on March 1, Polish farmers completely blocked the Shehyni checkpoint.

Photo: Shmyhal, Telegram