Moscow urges UN to pressure Western countries to unblock export of Russian fertilizers

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia's Foreign Minister Maria Zakharova on Thursday urged the UN to make the Western countries lift restrictions from operations related to the export of Russian fertilizers.

Speaking at a news conference in Moscow, Zakharova noted the necessity of lifting the ban on entering of Russian ships to foreign ports and foreign ships to Russian ports.

She also said sanctions on the Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank), which handles the lion's share of transactions related to the agricultural sector, hinder the export of fertilizers.

"The position of Western countries is interesting from a practical point of view. They implement their part of the deal only when there is substantive pressure, including through the UN, and they don't want to do it normally.

"We expect the UN to make efforts to get the Europeans and Americans to remove a number of obstacles that do not allow us to fully supply Russian fertilizers and grain to the world market.

"We are talking about permission for Russian ships to enter European ports, foreign ships to enter Russian ports, it is necessary to lift sanctions from Rosselkhozbank, because it handles the lion's share of all transactions with fertilizers and food," she said.

Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed an agreement on July 22 in Istanbul to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports, which were paused after the Russia-Ukraine war began in February. A Joint Coordination Center with officials from the three countries and the UN was set up in Istanbul to oversee the shipments.