June 23, Pozirk. Hrodna Azot, a Belarusian state-owned nitrogen fertilizer producer, has been exporting its products to the European Union despite sanctions that have been in force for almost four years, the Belarusian Investigative Center has said.
Last year alone, the company sold 186,000 tons of fertilizers worth $59 million in the EU through front companies, it said, noting that the sales accounted for 44 percent of the its total exports.
Hrodna Azot has been profiting from sales to countries where its products are officially banned, they said, citing a leaked internal report by the Biełnaftachim petrochemical giant.
An 18 percent profit margin enabled the company to earn $8.1 million in profit in the first three quarters of 2024, while its sales in Russia and other foreign markets were unprofitable in the same period, according to the document.
The sanctions evasion scheme involves “special exporters” that have signed equipment lease agreements with Hrodna Azot to be able to claim that they are fertilizer manufacturers, journalists said.
When fertilizers arrive at the European Union’s border, customs officials do not see the real producer in the documents. Last year, half of Hrodna Azot’s exports, worth almost $60 million, went to the EU in this way.
Shipments of Belarusian nitrogen fertilizers resumed through Latvia for the first time in four years in early 2025.
Hrodna Azot is under the EU sanctions over alleged human rights violations by its management during the 2020 political crisis in Belarus.
The investigation lists Belarusian “special exporters” and EU-based companies involved in the scheme, detailing their links to Alaksandar Łukašenka’s cronies.
Also read: Latvia introduces harsher punishment for sanctions evasion
