The occupation authorities of Crimea reported that the 2024 grain harvest amounted to one and a half million tonnes. The Crimean branch of the international movement for the deoccupation of Crimea #LIBERATECRIMEA told ‘Krym.Realia’ in a commentary that such a ‘high yield’ in a bad harvest year was ‘achieved’ due to the transportation to Crimean granaries of grain harvested in the occupied territory of Kherson region.
According to activists, this practice has been observed since 2022, when grain from the occupied territories of mainland Ukraine began to be passed off as Crimean grain to make it easier to sell to exporters.
‘This year in Crimea there were unfavourable conditions for grains – drought and abnormal heat, while the yield is declared as in the weather-friendly 2021. Even the rather dry year of 2020 was better in terms of weather indicators than this year, but then only one million grain was harvested. It doesn’t happen like that. The answer is obvious – Kherson grain is taken to Crimean granaries, where it is entered into Crimean statistics. At the same time, the yields in the occupied part of the Kherson region are understated in every possible way by the Russian authorities. The point of these machinations is that even Russian exporters are reluctant to purchase grain from the occupied territories of mainland Ukraine, so it is passed off as Crimean grain,’ the Crimean branch of #LIBERATECRIMEA said.