Russian, UN officials discuss food and fertilizer exports

Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Vershinin, and the United Nations’ top trade official, Rebecca Greenspan, have held talks on the possibility of restoring unfettered access to world markets for Russian food and fertilizers, which are exempt from Western sanctions.

The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement on its website that “We continued our detailed discussion of questions surrounding the implementation of the Russia-UN Memorandum on the normalization of domestic agricultural exports, which is valid until 2025.

“Particular attention was paid to the task of restoring the unimpeded access of Russian fertilizers and food to world markets in the context of illegal unilateral sanctions from the US, EU and UK.

“In addition, an extensive exchange of views took place on the current situation in the field of global food security, with an emphasis on the significant share of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers on the global market.”

The Russia-UN Memorandum on promoting Russian agricultural exports was signed in Istanbul in July 2022, in parallel with the Black Sea Initiative, which was designed to facilitate the export of Ukrainian agricultural products via a safe maritime corridor.

Russia withdrew from the so-called ‘grain deal’ a year later, complaining that its exports had continued to face sanctions-related payments, logistics, and insurance problems.

At the time, the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, criticized Moscow’s decision, saying that his organization had made considerable progress in normalizing trading conditions. He described the deal as a “lifeline for global food security.”