As the European Union countries are hit badly by the sanctions they have imposed on Russia for the war on Ukraine, they are taking desperate measures to come out of this self-created damage. In such a move, it has been learnt that the EU has quietly lifted the ban on Russian fertiliser, but only for themselves. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused the EU of discriminating against developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America by continuing to block the export of Russian fertilisers lying in European ports.
At a security council meeting in Moscow on Friday, Putin said that thousands of tonnes of Russian fertilisers are lying in European ports due to the sanctions, and recently European Union unblocked delivery of fertilisers to EU countries, but deliveries of Russian fertilisers to other countries through its ports are still prohibited. He said that while the decision to lift the sanction on fertilisers is welcome, limiting only to EU countries is unacceptable.
According to reports, Putin said, “We know also that the European Commission has unblocked supplies of Russian fertilisers, has lifted sanctions. We welcome such decisions, however, the clarification of the European Commission was issued on this matter on August 10. It turns out that only European Union’s member-states can buy our fertilisers, while supplies of our and Belarusian fertilisers via ports of European nations to developing countries – to Asian, African, and Latin American markets – are still prohibited and impossible. This is the discrimination of our partners.”
Vladimir Putin further added, “I believe the discrimination of Asian, African, and Latin American nations is unacceptable.” He said that the Russian govt will consider the proposals of European partners on fertiliser supplies to them, but issues concerning fertiliser supplies to other countries need to be resolved as well.
The Russian president also said that Russia is ready to hand over its potash fertilisers stuck in European ports free of charge to developing countries. He said that hundreds of thousand tonnes of fertilisers are piled up in certain European ports. “Our producers – in my opinion, this primarily refers to potash fertilisers – are ready as a matter of fact to give them free of charge to developing countries badly needing these fertilisers,” he said.
Putin also asked the Russian Foreign Affairs ministry to work out this issue. He also asked the ministry to support the delivery of Belarusian fertilisers also. Being a close ally of Russia in the ongoing war, Belarus is also facing sanctions.
The Russian president also informed that in four months of 2022, Russia has exported 7 million tonnes of fertilisers, and almost half of that, around 3 million tonnes were exported to countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. “Over the four months of this year, Russia has exported 7 million tonnes of fertilisers, including potash, nitrogen, complex fertilisers, mixed fertilisers. Around 3 million tonnes of them went to the countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America,” he said. He further added that Russia is ready to supply 2 million tonnes of ammonia.
