Ikea, the world's biggest furniture retailer, has for years sold children's furniture made from wood linked to vast illegal logging in protected forests in Russia, an Earthsight investigation has found.

It is one of a number of western firms linked to the case. The brand's popular Sundvik children's range – which includes chairs, tables, beds and wardrobes – and Flisat doll's house are among the items likely tainted with illegal wood. Earthsight estimates that shoppers have been purchasing an Ikea product containing the suspect Russian lumber somewhere on earth every two minutes.

Using undercover meetings, visits to logging sites, satellite imagery analysis and scrutiny of official documents, court records and customs data, we traced wood furniture on sale in Ikea stores around the world to forests in remote Siberia. They're controlled by companies owned by one of Russia's top-50 wealthiest politicians, Evgeny Bakurov.

Our year-long investigation found that Bakurov's businesses broke numerous forestry and environmental laws. Illegal deals helped them harvest 2.16 million cubic metres of wood in protected forests over the last decade. Piled high, the logs produced would rival the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Below is a short film on the investigation along with links to the full report and press release.

The report was covered by more than 60 media outlets around the world, including NBC News, The Times, Der Spiegel, The Independent, Tagesschau, Novaya Gazeta and Radio Sweden.