Global Courant 2023-04-21 16:39:26
MOSCOW
Russia’s deputy foreign minister said on Friday that Moscow has prepared two free shipments of fertilizer to Kenya and Nigeria.
Speaking to Rossiya 24 TV channel, Vershinin said that Russia wants to send the fertilizers that it has blocked in the Baltic countries to the countries that need it most.
Asked about the extension of the Istanbul grain deal, officially known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the diplomat said it was dependent on making “concrete progress” on major issues that are preventing Russian agricultural products and fertilizers from reaching the world market.
“Conditions for the extension of the transaction, reconnection of Rosselkhoznadzor to SWIFT, resumption of the supply of spare parts and maintenance of agricultural machinery, reinsurance of agricultural products and lifting the ban on access to ports, lifting Sanctions from Russian companies and their owners engaged in the production of food and fertilizers,” he said.
Moscow had previously offered to donate 262,000 tons of fertilizer blocked at ports in Latvia, Estonia, Belgium and the Netherlands to poor countries.
The first and only shipment of 20,000 tons was sent from the Netherlands to Malawi.
President Vladimir Putin said last month that the leaders of many African countries had contacted him about the possibility of buying fertilizer from Russia.
Russia is the world’s largest fertilizer exporter. In March, it decided to extend the 60-day agreement on grain for the transport of agricultural products from three Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea, which Turkey and the UN mediated last July.
In February last year, Russia’s “special military operation” blocked the shipments.
Moscow says it won’t be able to extend the deal until after mid-May unless it removes barriers to Western grain and fertilizer exports.
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