Russian Branch of Danish Company Helps Ship Grain From Occupied Ukrainian Port – Investigation

A Russian company tied to a well-known Danish inspection firm has been helping export grain from the Russian-occupied Ukrainian port of Berdyansk, according to a new investigation by Slidstvo.Info and Ukrainian hackers from the KibOrg group.

The investigation points to Baltic Control, a Danish company founded in 1980 that specializes in cargo inspections – especially agricultural shipments.

For decades, it helped monitor grain exports from Scandinavia to the former Soviet Union and East Germany. In 2023, it was bought by the French group Apave.

While Baltic Control promotes its global standards and neutrality, documents suggest its Russian branch – Baltic Control Novorossiysk – has been actively involved in grain exports from occupied Berdyansk.

Hackers from KibOrg obtained internal documents from the Berdyansk port, now under Russian control. Inside were dozens of emails sent in 2024 and 2025 between a Russian agricultural firm based in Crimea and a logistics company in Berdyansk.

All of them discussed shipping large volumes of grain – about 170,000 tons in total – and included requests to load ships.

Each time, the emails stated that Baltic Control would act as an independent inspector, checking the ship holds and verifying both the quality and amount of grain being shipped.

The company wasn’t named directly in those documents, but KibOrg found additional paperwork that revealed the taxpayer ID of the company involved – confirming it was Baltic Control Novorossiysk.

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To confirm the connection, a Slidstvo.Info journalist called Baltic Control’s headquarters in Denmark, pretending to be a Russian company representative interested in shipping grain from Berdyansk and Mariupol to Egypt and South Sudan.

The Danish office gave the name and phone number of Baltic Control Novorossiysk and its director, Alexander Shalimov.

Another journalist, posing as a representative of a Polish company, then called Shalimov and asked if his team handled inspections in Berdyansk.

“I’ll tell you this – we’re the only ones working in Berdyansk,” Shalimov replied. “That means you’ll be able to monitor quality throughout the entire loading process.”

But when a different reporter from Slidstvo.Info called and identified himself as a Ukrainian journalist, Shalimov denied working in Berdyansk and refused to answer further questions.

Baltic Control’s headquarters in Denmark has not responded to repeated requests for comment.

Kateryna Rashevska, an international law expert, told Slidstvo.Info that Baltic Control’s role in grain exports from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region could be considered complicity in war crimes.