In the UK, Russian wood is used for building houses, imported under the guise of products from the Baltics, writes The Times.
Specifically, the Australian company Source Certain can determine the place of origin of wood by studying the features of its atomic structure. “It's like an internal barcode. What is reflected on it is a direct reflection of the place where it grew,” said the company's founder, Cameron Scadding.
After examining more than 3,000 wood samples on the UK market, experts found that over 10% of the samples were either a different type or from another country of origin. Of these, three-quarters were from Russia.
After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the UK and the EU banned the import of Russian and Belarusian plywood and wood raw materials. However, this led to a boom in illegal supplies, disguised as imports from the Baltics.
An Earthsight investigation showed that after the imposition of sanctions, nearly £1.5 billion worth of wood was imported into Europe. Source Certain confirmed that some of this product also reached Britain.
The company refused to name the construction firms from which samples were taken, explaining this by a reluctance to scare off partners. “It is so widespread that it affects every builder,” said Divya Seshamani from Greensphere Capital.