The President of Russia, Vladimir Putinpressed this Friday the UN Yet the European Union (EU) to facilitate the unhindered export of Russian fertilizers and allow the export of Ukrainian grain to reach developing countries, an issue that he also discussed with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“We know how important fertilizers are in solving the food problem,” Putin told the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the Uzbek city of Samarkand.
The world food crisis affects 153 million children under the age of 18, which represents almost half of the 345 million people facing acute hunger, warned the UN World Food Program (WFP).
Putin welcomed the decision of the European Commission (EC) to lift sanctions on Russian fertilizers, but stressed that “these (…) were lifted only for EU member countries.”
He pointed out that, according to the clarification received on the 10th by the EC, «it turns out that only the community countries can buy our fertilizers. But what about the world’s poorest developing countries? », he wondered.
In a post-summit press conference he called this decision “disgusting” and “shameful”, and expressed his hope that the EC “corrects this mistake”.
The UN must demand that the EU act
The head of the Kremlin took advantage of the participation in the Samarkand summit of the Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs of the UN, Rosemary DiCarlo, to ask her to influence this decision of the EC and demand that the community club, “not in words, but with facts, that lift these restrictions that are clearly discriminatory against developing countries.
It is necessary to guarantee the access of Russian fertilizers to these markets, he emphasized.
Putin recalled that he had already informed the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, that “300,000 tons of Russian fertilizers” are accumulated in community ports.
“We are willing to transfer them free of charge to developing countries,” he stressed.
Guterres said Wednesday that the UN is trying to mediate to resume Russian exports of ammonia through the Black Sea, a substance widely used as a fertilizer and Russia is one of the main producers.
Immediately after the summit, DiCarlo approached Putin to discuss with him this issue and that of the export of Ukrainian grain, signed by Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul at the end of July with the mediation of the UN and Turkey and that the Kremlin believes is not being implemented correctly.
According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, the president reiterated to him that only a small part of what leaves the three Ukrainian ports of Odessa, Chornokorsk and Pivdenny actually reaches developing countries.
DiCarlo assured Putin, according to Moscow, that this issue is on the UN agenda.
The Russian president has alleged that only 60,000 tons of grain out of 2 million that leave Ukrainian ports reach the poorest countries.
Ukraine It has ensured that about two thirds of the Ukrainian grain already exported through this agreement is destined for the markets of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, in addition to Europe.
Ukraine claims to have recovered twenty towns in a single day
Turkish support
Putin, who announced last week in Vladivostok that he would discuss with Erdogan limiting the destinations of the ships that export Ukrainian grain to allow, according to his argument, more grain to reach the poorest countries, received today at the Uzbekistan summit the support of his Turkish counterpart.
“We try to focus our attention on Ukrainian grain reaching our brothers and sisters, especially in Africa, and, in particular, those who need it most,” he said.
In addition, he assured that Turkey will support any initiative that contributes to food security.
In a bilateral meeting with Erdogan after the summit, Putin hoped that much of the grain that leaves Ukrainian ports now reaches the poorest countries.
Putin emphasized that Russia also exports large amounts of grain, noting that part of this production could be supplied to third countries through Turkey.
“Turkey is a reliable partner in this regard and can guarantee deliveries to countries in the world,” he noted.
Putin added that this includes countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, because these are the main supply markets for Russian grain.
The head of the Kremlin reminded in Samarkand again that this year Russia will export 30 million tons of grain and next year it will be 50 million.
SCO concern
The issue of food security and fertilizers was also discussed with the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who during the summit advocated promoting another type of grain, such as millet, to face the challenge of hunger in the world.
This is a very important source of nutrients “that will allow us to deal with the consequences of the food crisis,” he stressed.
In general, the entire SCO (Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan) expressed in the final declaration of the summit its “deep concern” about the global food crisis, and in addition to mentioning factors such as climate change, the coronavirus pandemic and regional problems, they also blamed “unilateral sanctions” for the situation.
