Europe

UK to launch new program to track grain stolen from Russian occupied areas of Ukraine

Scheme will strengthen Ukraine’s food security and ensure country remains a major supplier of agricultural produce worldwide

Burak Bir  | 21.01.2025 - Update : 21.01.2025
UK to launch new program to track grain stolen from Russian occupied areas of Ukraine

LONDON

Britain will launch the Grain Verification Scheme in a bid to track stolen grain from Russian occupied Ukrainian territories, a government statement said Monday.

The scheme was agreed on as part of a landmark 100-year partnership between the UK and Ukraine.

The two countries signed a "100-year partnership" agreement Thursday to deepen defense cooperation and address long-term threats and challenges to maritime security after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on his first visit since taking office last year.

"The scheme will strengthen the food security of Ukraine and also ensure the country remains a major supplier of agricultural produce worldwide," said the statement by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The latest development came after UK Food Security and Rural Affairs Minister Daniel Zeichner signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Vitaliy Koval, Ukraine’s Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, ahead of the scheme’s launch, before the database is handed over to Ukraine in the coming weeks.

"Using the latest science, we can track grain to its source – identifying stolen grain to help Ukraine take back what’s theirs," said Zeichner.

The scheme was developed after Ukraine requested support from G7 countries in tracing grain stolen from territories under Russian control and sold on the international market, said the statement.

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