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Russia on Friday accused the US and Europe of blocking access to world markets for Russian agricultural products and fertilizers, hurting poor countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Fertilizers “remain blocked mainly in warehouses in Latvia (80%), as well as in Estonia, Belgium and the Netherlands, whose authorities do not allow their shipment through the UN World Food Program (WFP),” the Foreign Ministry said. Russian.
In a statement cited by Russia’s official TASS news agency, Sergey Lavrov’s ministry said that apart from fertilizers, Russian companies could not “donate” some 300,000 tons of produce to the “poorest countries.”
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“Americans and Europeans are punishing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America”blamed Moscow diplomacy.
The ministry said that Russia “is one of the world’s leading exporters of fertilizers,” without which the population of poor countries “will be in danger of starvation.”
The war in Ukraine, which Russia invaded on February 24 this year, has caused disruptions in the supply of agricultural products to international markets, rising prices and fears of food shortages.
Together, according to the British magazine The Economist, Ukraine and Russia providedbefore the war 28% world wheat, 29% barley, 15% corn and 75% sunflower oil..
On July 22, the two countries signed agreements with Turkey and the UN allowing the transport of more than 20 million tons of grain that was blocked in Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
The process is controlled by the parties involved from the Joint Coordinating Center (JCC) in Istanbul, where ship inspections take place.
Until October 24, 383 flights were made from Ukrainian ports, which made it possible to transport more than 8.5 million tons of grain, according to the UN.
In a statement quoted by TASS, the Foreign Ministry said that the blockade of Russian products is related to Western sanctions, “the negative effect of which should be neutralized” by the Istanbul agreements.
Russian diplomacy also condemned artificial accumulation of “a large number of ships” in the port of Istanbul put pressure on Russian experts and “weaken the process” of checking the cargo.
He said that “systematic violations related to non-compliance with the rules of navigation in the sea corridor and smuggling attempts” were revealed on more than 70 ships.
“Such abuses of the humanitarian corridor cannot be ignored, especially given the ongoing investigation into the routes of delivery of explosives for the October 8 attack on the Crimean bridge,” he added.
Moscow has accused Ukrainian intelligence services of being responsible for the attack that damaged a bridge connecting Russia with the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014, using explosives distributed through several neighboring countries.
Ukraine denied the allegations.
An October 24 CCC Istanbul report said 113 ships were registered for inspection at the Turkish port.
“The JCC is discussing ways to solve the delay problem,” the center’s secretariat said, assuring the UN.
The Joint Center also expressed concern that delays “could lead to disruptions in the supply chain and port operations.”
“The next harvest is approaching, and the elevators in the Ukrainian ports covered by the Initiative will soon be full again,” he added.