Authors

Claudia Eggart¹;  ¹ Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS), Germany

Discussion

After Russia started the fully-fledged war in Ukraine in February 2022, all Ukrainian seaports temporarily closed down. This caused a severe disruption of maritime trade in the Black Sea Region and globally. Trade with grain and sunflower oil are a cornerstone of Ukraine’s economy and account for about 12% and 48% of the global exports. To partially mitigate the risk of a global food crisis, agricultural products could be delivered overland from Southern Ukraine to the replacement port in Constanta, Romania. Yet, the flow of goods was constrained by time-consuming customs procedures at the border triangle of Ukraine and Moldova with the European Union. As a result, this triangle turned into a chokepoint. Based on in-depth ethnography, interviews with customs officers and lorry drivers, this study zooms in on actors and practices on the spot to elucidate the lived experience of customs regimes in the context of war and EU expansion. I argue that the sleepy Bessarabian border triangle has turned into a site where geopolitical power struggles materialize in long lorry lines, and where dust and heat make waiting not only physically straining and emotionally wearing, but also political.