UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric did not say who was to blame for the lack of ships traveling to the port near Odessa, which is also where Russia used to pump up to 2.5 million tonnes of ammonia. annually for export via a pipeline from Togliatti.
That pipeline has been closed since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia used to export 4.4 million tonnes of ammonia a year – 20% of global maritime trade – before its war in Ukraine.
The Black Sea Grains Agreement – negotiated by the UN and Turkey last July – allows ammonia to be exported safely, and Russia has pushed for the pipeline to be restarted. Last week, Russia agreed to extend the Black Sea pact by two months.
But a Ukrainian government source told Reuters on Friday that Kiev would consider allowing Russian ammonia to transit its territory for export if the Black Sea grain deal was expanded to include more Ukrainian ports and a wider range of goods.
The Black Sea grain deal stalled last week while Russia decided whether to continue it or not. Under the agreement, a Joint Coordination Center (JCC) in Istanbul – made up of officials from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the UN – authorizes and inspects ships on entry and exit.
Dujarric said that since the agreement was extended, nine ships have been inspected and cleared to travel, five of which are currently in the Ukrainian ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk loading cargo.
Dujarric said the JCC currently has 17 applications from ships wishing to travel to Ukraine and that seven have been approved and are now awaiting inspection.
“No vessel wishing to load food products at Yuzhny/Pivdennyi port has been approved for registration,” he told reporters. “The port of Yuzhny/Pivdennyi has not received any ships since May 2. We are concerned about this restriction and again request the full resumption of operations”.
More than 30 million tons of food were exported from Ukrainian ports under the Black Sea agreement, and Dujarric said the port of Pivdennyi (Yuzhny) accounted for more than a third of these shipments. He stated that no fertilizer, including ammonia, has yet been exported under the Black Sea agreement.
Russia has threatened not to renew the agreement unless a list of demands related to obstacles to its own food and fertilizer exports is met. The restarting of the ammonia pipeline is one of these demands, which the United Nations has tried to mediate.
Another key requirement of Russia is that its state agricultural bank, known as Rosselkhozbank, be reconnected to the SWIFT international payments network. It was disconnected from SWIFT by the European Union in June due to the invasion of Ukraine.
EU foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano told Reuters the EU was not considering any re-suspension of Russian banks.
On Monday, the Kremlin said the EU’s reluctance to reconnect Russia’s state agricultural bank to SWIFT showed the bloc’s “non-constructive position” on the Black Sea grain deal.
As an alternative to SWIFT, the UN proposed that other banks could process payments. Reuters reported that JPMorgan processed the first payment for the Russian Agricultural Bank and could help with dozens more transactions.
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