Despite sanctions and anti-deforestation efforts, suspect Russian and Belarusian timber products are still entering the European Union, according to new trade data, while several EU member states lobby for exemptions from the bloc’s upcoming anti-deforestation regulation. NGO Earthsight’s latest analysis reveals these many states continue importing significant volumes of birch plywood—a high-value timber product—sourced from China, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Turkey. These countries have been previously implicated as transit points for Russian timber evading EU sanctions imposed after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Since sanctions began, EU imports of Russian birch ...