Main points
- The Turkish company Erisler received wheat from occupied Mariupol through the Russian company “Nika”, which is associated with the production of drones.
- Journalists discovered that the grain was transported through Russian ports, and the documents indicated that it came from a Russian city, making it smuggled.
The ship “Alfa M”, which was transporting grain / Photo by shipspotting.com
A Turkish company received wheat exported from occupied Mariupol that could have entered global food chains. It is a supplier of products to the UN World Food Program.
How does stolen grain from the occupied territories end up with a UN partner?
The Turkish company Erisler, which supplies products to the UN World Food Program, may have received grain from occupied Mariupol, according to the investigation by “Slidstva.Info”. The supply was carried out by the Russian company “Nika”, whose owners are also associated with the production of combat drones.
Journalists established that in 2023–2024, “Nika”, owned by the Gurov family, sent more than 54 thousand tons of wheat exported from the occupied city to Turkey.
In total, in 2023, the company exported grain to Turkey and Egypt worth 3.7 million US dollars, and in 2024, the volumes increased almost fourfold – to 12.9 million US dollars. Part of this production was received by Erisler.
At the same time, the Gurovykh family owns another company, Roboaviya, which manufactures reconnaissance and strike drones. According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, the company manufactures the Sarych and Surprise drones and has been under US and Ukrainian sanctions since 2024.
Interesting! The head of the Center for Investigative Journalism, Valentyna Samar, suggests that the Gurovs may be the nominal owners of this business, since they had no previous experience in the field of drone production.
Grain went to Turkey through Russian ports
Journalists also found that in April 2024, the Alfa M vessel, which is under Ukrainian sanctions, transported more than 7.8 thousand tons of wheat from Mariupol to the Russian port of Temryuk. From there, the grain was exported to Turkey, and the final recipient in the documents was Erisler. The intermediary was the company Global Commodities and Logistics Limited.
Mariupol was listed as a Russian city in the cargo origin documents. According to Kateryna Yaresko, a journalist for the SeaKrime project, this scheme allows you to hide the true origin of the grain and actually makes it smuggled.
Additionally, an employee of the Ukrainian representative office of the international company Cotecna reported that laboratory testing of this batch of grain was carried out in Odessa. The samples arrived from Turkey with the mark “country of origin – Russia”, and their volumes fully matched the data on the shipping documents.
At the same time, all declarations of conformity for “Niki” wheat from 2022 to early 2026 indicate that production is linked to occupied Mariupol .
Please note! Journalists have asked those involved in the investigation for comments. “Nika” and Erisler did not respond to requests. Global Commodities denied purchasing grain from the occupied territories and stated that they work in accordance with international standards. Cotecna also denied involvement in such products, noting that they rely on counterparty documents and do not have independent tools to verify the origin of the grain.
Russia stole 2 million tons of grain from Ukraine: where is it being sold?
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Russia illegally exported about 2 million tons of Ukrainian grain in 2025, selling it to countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, including Egypt.
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The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine emphasized the importance of restoring security in the Black Sea region for the stability of global food markets and noted the role of Turkey, Moldova, and Romania in ensuring regional security.