When the bulk cargo ship Laodicea docked in Lebanon last summer, Ukrainian diplomats said the vessel was carrying grain stolen by Russia and urged Lebanese officials to impound the ship.

Moscow called the allegation “false and baseless,” and Lebanon’s prosecutor general sided with the Kremlin and declared that the 10,000 tons of barley and wheat flour wasn’t stolen and allowed the ship to unload.

But an investigation by a media agency has found the Laodicea, owned by Syria, is part of a Russian-run smuggling operation that has used falsified manifests and seaborne subterfuge to steal Ukrainian grain worth at least $530 million- cash that has helped feed Putin’s war machine. The agency used satellite imagery and marine radio transponder data to track 3 dozen ships making more than 50 voyages carrying grain from Russian-occupied Ukraine to ports in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and other countries.