Russian Ambassador to Ankara Aleksey Yerkhov said that the Russian side had not seen any progress in the export of its agricultural products, which is stipulated in the relevant memorandum of understanding with the UN.
"To date, 17 million tons of grain from Ukraine have been exported. However, we still note geographical distortions in the distribution of food products from Ukraine. The situation concerning our agricultural products cannot be called prosperous. There is no progress in the implementation of the memorandum signed between Russia and the UN to normalize the export of Russian agricultural products. Russian producers and suppliers still face blocked bank payments, prohibitive insurance rates and lack of access to ports," the diplomat said in an interview with Yeni Şafak daily published on Friday.
According to the ambassador, there have been delays in the free delivery of fertilizer to poor countries. "A small part of the shipments were sent from the Netherlands to Malawi. Latvia, Estonia and Belgium continue to hold our products at their ports. The export of ammonia raw material, which is used for fertilizer production, has not started from the port of Yuzhny. Only Kiev is preventing the resumption of ammonia exports. We are talking about 2.5 million tons of raw materials per year, enough to produce 7 million tons of fertilizers, which would feed 200 million people. All this demonstrates who speculates, in pursuit of selfish goals, on the needs of Africa, Asia and Latin America", stressed the Russian ambassador.
Agreements on the export of food from Ukraine were concluded on July 22, 2022, in Istanbul for 120 days. One of the agreements was initially valid until November 19 and regulated the order of grain export from the Kiev-controlled ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny. The agreements were extended for another 120 days on 17 November. The Russian foreign ministry explained that the deal was extended automatically due to the absence of objections from the parties involved (Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, and the United Nations).
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Based on materials from TASS