Moscow, 10 Oct (ZXS) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on 22 October, urging Western countries not to obstruct Russia's fertilizer supply to poor countries.
Under the framework of the memorandum of understanding signed by Russia and the United Nations on the export of Russian agricultural products, which expires in 2025, Russia proposed in September last year to supply 9,26 tons of Russian fertilizers detained in ports in Latvia, Estonia, Belgium and the Netherlands to poor countries free of charge, with the support of the United Nations.
However, after completing two fertilizer shipments, 2,3 tonnes to Malawi and 4,3 tonnes to Kenya, the third shipment of fertilizers, 4,2 tonnes to Nigeria, 3,5 tonnes to Zimbabwe and 5,9 tonnes to Sri Lanka, has "stalled", with more than 6,<> tonnes currently stranded in ports in Latvia, Estonia and Belgium, despite all preparatory procedures.
The statement pointed out that Western countries claim that they will not impose unilateral sanctions on Russian grain and fertilizer exports, but in fact they even obstruct Russia's humanitarian and gratuitous supplies. They put many obstacles in every step of the transportation, including high taxes, storage fees when it is practically impossible to carry out the payment, and chartering, transshipment and other logistics services, all of which are borne by the Russian company. This once again proves the hypocrisy of Western countries.
The statement said that Russia hopes that in the coming period, the relevant countries that illegally detain Russian fertilizers can take necessary measures in order to timely transport these fertilizers to poor countries.
On July 2022, 7, Russia and Ukraine signed agreements with Turkey and the United Nations in Istanbul on the export of agricultural products from Black Sea ports, each with a validity period of 22 days. At the same time, Russia and the United Nations signed a memorandum of understanding on the export of Russian agricultural products for three years to ensure unimpeded access of Russian grain and fertilizers to the world market. The agreement on the export of agricultural products from Black Sea ports was extended three times last November, March and May this year, and expired on 120 July. The Russian side announced on the same day that it would not extend the agreement because the agreement on guaranteeing the export of Russian agricultural products had not been implemented. (End)