In 2022, the European Union banned the importation of wood from Russia and Belarus in an attempt to degrade their ability to wage war in Ukraine. This prohibition was further reinforced by the EU Deforestation Regulation, which came into effect in June 2023. While direct exports of timber from Russia to Europe have plummeted since the ban, exports of timber to Europe from other Central Asian countries with much smaller timber industries have skyrocketed.
In this report, Sayari analysts use publicly available information to investigate the transshipment of Russian and Belarusian timber via Kazakhstan, profiling five of the companies responsible for these illicit exports.
Download the report to learn how EU importers can layer corporate records with open-source intelligence to mitigate regulatory risk in their supply chains.