A Ukrainian official said on Tuesday that Ukraine is looking for guarantees from Moscow and the U.N. that a treaty on the secure shipment of Black Sea grain will function regularly if Kyiv permits Russian ammonia to traverse Ukrainian territory.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative was mediated by the UN and Turkey between Moscow and Kyiv last July to help address a global food crisis made worse by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a major grain exporter.
This month, Russia consented to a two-month extension of the accord, but has stated that the initiative will end unless a deal is reached to remove restrictions from Russian grain and fertilizer exports.
The resumption of ammonia transit from Russia through Ukrainian territory to Pivdennyi port in Odessa, where it is exported, is one of the demands made by Moscow. Following Russia’s invasion, the pipeline was unable to transport ammonia, a crucial component of nitrogen-based fertilizers.
“At this time, we are unsure of whether the ammonia pipeline itself will fix anything. Yuriy Vaskov, Ukraine’s deputy renovation minister, said at a grain conference that if conversation doesn’t resolve anything on its own, then there isn’t any need to have one.
“If it (ammonia) is a major issue, then the United Nations must state clearly that if the ammonia pipeline resumes operation, then Ukraine will have such opportunities (to export grain in a normal way), and then our top political leadership will decide whether it is in our interests or not.”
The U.N. reported last week that no ships have been given permission to visit Pivdennyi port since April 29 and that the grain agreement has not yet resumed full operations since it was extended.
Reconnecting the Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) to the SWIFT global payment network is one of Russia’s demands to increase grain and fertilizer exports.
The supply of agricultural equipment and parts has also resumed, insurance and reinsurance restrictions have been lifted, and Russian enterprises that export food and fertilizer have had their assets and accounts unblocked.
Source: theprint