According to the investigation, after the start of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation and until December 31, 2023, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, acting in collusion with the leadership of the aggressor country and the heads of the occupation administrations in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, organized large-scale illegal appropriation of the assets of agricultural enterprises in Ukraine, both state and private.

This concerns the property of well-known Ukrainian companies: LLC SP "NIBULON", the TESSLAGROUP company group, LLC "KERNEL-TRADE", the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine, and others. The total volume of appropriated grain exceeds 4.136 million tons, which, according to preliminary estimates, amounts to over 23 billion UAH.

The stolen products were exported to Russia and the temporarily occupied Crimea, from where they were further exported by sea under the guise of goods of Russian origin to Syria, Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, and other countries.

Such actions are not caused by any military necessity and constitute a gross violation of the norms of international humanitarian law.

Based on the collected evidence, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation has been notified of suspicion under Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war). The sanction of the article provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 8 to 12 years.

The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by investigators of the Main Investigative Department of the Security Service of Ukraine with operational support from the units of the Security Service of Ukraine.

Earlier, suspicion was reported to the Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation and one of the heads of the department of this ministry. The identification of other involved officials of the Russian Federation is ongoing.

Note: according to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime until their guilt is proven in the manner prescribed by law and confirmed by a guilty verdict of the court.