Russian President Putin accuses EU countries of blocking the shipment of 300 million kilos of Russian fertilizer as a gift to African countries. Putin points out that Moscow complies with the agreements on Ukrainian grain exports but says that Western sanctions continue to hinder Russian exports.
“The height of cynicism is that even our offer (...) to transport 300,000 tons of Russian fertilizers, blocked in European ports due to sanctions, free of charge to the countries that need it, remains unanswered,” Putin complained Tuesday during a ceremony in Moscow. “It is clear: they do not want to let our companies earn money,” he said.
Russia, the world’s grain power, cannot sell its production and its fertilizers because of Western sanctions that especially affect the financial and logistics sectors. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Russia was in 2021 the largest exporter of nitrogen fertilizers and the second largest supplier of potassium and phosphate fertilizers.
On Tuesday, Vladimir Putin again condemned “illegal sanctions” taken by certain Western countries “to strengthen their position,” which he said “have negative consequences for themselves” but also “for totally innocent states, primarily developing countries and the poorest nations,” he said.
The Kremlin disputes the agreements made in July. These statements come at a time when Moscow is increasingly opposing two deals made in July in Istanbul that allow the export of wheat and corn from Ukraine via Black Sea ports, but also, in theory, exports from Moscow affected by Western sanctions.
The Kremlin specifically claims that most Ukrainian food products go to European countries, which Kiev denies. Russian criticism of the Istanbul deals increases fears that Ukrainian exports may once again be hindered by the Russians.