A great deal of that timber crosses the border from Karelia into Finland, at least 3 million m3 each year, including timber destined for the pulp and paper mills of companies like UPM and our old friends Stora Enso. As we've reported before, the UK is the second largest importer of Finnish paper, so a significant amount ends up in this country with magazine and book publishers like EMAP, Hodder Headline and Orion.

On Monday, our Finnish and Swedish colleagues took action to remind the industry of its role in forest destruction by blockading Stora Enso's headquarters in Helsinki. As well as Russian imports, the company also buys timber logged in Finland itself where the last remaining fragments of ancient forests in Europe are under threat.

Stora Enso has of course denied that it's doing anything wrong, but the blockade was triggered by an appeal from a group of 240 Finnish scientists for logging in old-growth areas to be stopped. Habitats and biodiversity are being irreparably damaged, they say, and we're not going to argue with that.

The results of the Russian investigation will make interesting reading and in the meantime we'll keep up the pressure on the companies and governments who are allowing illegal timber to come into the EU in the first place. Of course, if the timber consultation produces a good result, then it's possible we could see all such imports banned. Fingers crossed.