A murky Cypriot firm is helping Belarus export potash — In breach of EU sanctions, 8 August 2024

...Potash, a red-tinged mineral rich in potassium, may appear unworthy of such subterfuge. But as a crucial component of fertilizers used on crops around the world, the commodity is in high demand and its availability is considered key to ensuring global food security.

In Belarus, home to one of the world’s biggest potash deposits, the industry is also an economic lifeline for Lukashenko, who has found himself increasingly isolated by the West for his regime’s rights abuses, corruption, and aid to Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.

For years, landlocked Belarus shipped its potash around the globe through a port in neighboring Lithuania. When that maritime access was cut off by the 2022 EU sanctions, Belarus began routing its shipments through Russia to countries where sanctions were not in place.

But not all the loose ends have been tied up. An investigation by OCCRP’s Belarusian partner BIC found that Belarus’ potash export chain still involves a violation of EU sanctions, due to the involvement of a Cypriot company with hidden connections to a former high-level official from Lukashenko’s administration.

Contracts obtained by BIC show that Belarus’ state potash monopoly, Belaruskali, has been paying a Cyprus-registered intermediary, Dimicandum Invest Holding Ltd., to move potash exports the short distance from St. Petersburg’s train station onto vessels in the city’s port.

Since Dimicandum is registered in the EU, this violates the sanctions that bar European firms and citizens from providing services or products to sanctioned entities like Belaruskali, according to experts...

Belaruskali did not respond to requests for comment, and Dimicandum and its Cypriot director could not be reached. But Damelen Consulting Ltd, the Cypriot firm that serves as Dimicandum’s secretary, denied the firm had done business with Belaruskali...