Undercover journalists from Earthsight have exposed the illegal trade in birch plywood, with banned Russian and Belarusian timber entering the market in Europe. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, wood imports from these countries have been banned, but trade in the coveted birch plywood continues. Earthsight's research shows that Russian and Belarusian wood products are easily smuggled into Europe via detours such as Turkey, Kazakhstan and China. 
Photo: Dreamstime.
Despite sanctions, many of these products find their way to European countries, including Poland, Romania and the Baltic states. Journalists working undercover discovered that suppliers in Poland were stocking large quantities of birch plywood from Russia. This wood was often provided with forged origin papers to circumvent sanctions.
Earthsight concludes that checks on the origin of wood are insufficient and that legislation is not effectively enforced. They warn that certificates such as FSC do not always guarantee legal timber, as there are cases of Russian timber with an FSC label. The journalist group calls for stricter compliance with European legislation and better oversight of the timber sector.
View Earthsight's full report here .