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President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russian authorities will work to unblock Russian fertilizers stuck in European ports and resume ammonia exports through a pipeline through Ukraine.
In a meeting with Russian businessman Dmitry Mazepin, who gave up control of fertilizer producer Uralchem-Uralkali after it was hit by EU sanctions in March, Putin said Russia was ready to increase its fertilizer exports.
“The main problem was probably the fact that a lot of fertilizers were frozen in European ports,” Mazepin said at the meeting, which was broadcast on state TV.
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There are 262,000 tonnes of Uralchem fertilizer stuck in ports in Estonia, Latvia, Belgium and the Netherlands, he said. Other producers, Acron and Eurochem, have 52,000 tonnes and almost 100,000 tonnes of their fertilizers stuck in Europe respectively.
The cargoes are being held because of EU sanctions on the former owners of the companies, including Mazepin. Uralchem said on November 12 that it had reached an agreement with the Netherlands, Estonia and Belgium to ship the fertilizer to African countries free of charge.
Putin said, however, that even these proposed donations were being blocked. He agreed to ask Russian authorities for help, saying he had been contacted by several African leaders about the issue.
Mazepin also asked Putin for more help with the resumption of Russian ammonia exports through a pipeline that runs from Russia to the Black Sea through Ukraine.
The export of ammonia, used in fertilizers, was not part of last week's renewal of the Black Sea agreement allowing grain shipments from Ukraine, although the United Nations is optimistic that Russia and Ukraine can reach agreement on terms. of the pipeline.
“We hoped that when there was a continuation of the grain agreement, which was done recently, this issue would also be resolved. But I would like to inform you that the Ukrainian side poses a number of political issues that are outside our competence,” Mazepin said.
Putin responded: “We will also work with the UN, with our colleagues in the organization. We’ll see what happens.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in September that he would only support the resumption of ammonia exports via Ukraine if Moscow returned prisoners of war, an idea the Kremlin rejected.
Source: Polina Devitt | Notícias Agrícolas
