Vsevolod Chentsov, the Ukrainian ambassador to the European Union, responded to the European Commission's proposal to limit Ukrainian exports to EU countries to the maximum levels of the past two years. The 27 Agriculture Ministers are set to make a decision on this in Brussels on Monday.
The ambassador called it unacceptable that Polish farmers are blocking the export of Ukrainian products at many border crossings, yet 'the EU as a whole' continues to import Russian food and agricultural products. "I will not go into details now, but this could be a very important element in solving the problem. If Russian exports are stopped, tensions and burdens on producers here in the EU will immediately be reduced," Chentsov said.
The border blockades by Polish farmers expanded significantly last week, leading to a partial halt in goods transport between the two countries. At a train station just over the Polish border, the doors of three wagons containing Ukrainian rapeseed on a detained freight train were opened, presumably by protesting Polish farmers. The cargo ended up on the shunting yard and is considered lost. It was a transit shipment headed for Germany (Hamburg).
The border blockades place the government of the new pro-European Polish prime minister Donald Tusk in an increasingly difficult position. He has accused his PiS predecessors of being too anti-EU and pro-Moscow, but now he himself is under fire in Brussels for his reluctant stance. President Zelensky invited Tusk for an urgent meeting at one of the (blocked) border crossings, but no Polish delegation showed up.
Meanwhile, the Baltic republic of Latvia brought up the issue of importing grain from the Russian Federation and the possibility of allowing it only if it is destined for transit to other EU countries.
The Latvian government says that the transit issue and an EU import ban can only be determined by Brussels, just as was done at the end of last year with the passage of Ukrainian grain at the borders of five neighboring EU countries. The parliament in Riga has therefore decided that Latvia will no longer import Russian food.
Latvia itself is a net producer of grain, with three million tons annually intended for export. Nevertheless, the Baltic country bordering partly on Russia imported 425,000 tons of Russian grain last year, an increase of 60 percent compared to 2022.