Russia demands resumption of ammonia transit through Ukraine to unblock “grain corridor” – UN

Russia refuses to allow ships to enter Ukraine’s Pivdennyi port as part of the grain corridor until Ukraine resumes exports of Russian ammonia through Odesa. This was announced at a briefing by the representative of the UN Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric.

“The Russian Federation has informed the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) of its decision to restrict the registration of ships in the Pivdennyi port until ammonia is exported,” the UN Secretary-General’s spokesman said.

He also said that due to the actions of the Russian side, the number of ship registrations within the “grain corridor” has decreased from three to two per day since May 24.

The UN representative clarified that in May, 33 ships left Ukrainian ports, which is half as many as in April, and only three of them left the Pivdennyi port, the largest of the three Ukrainian ports that are part of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

In total, Ukrainian food exports via the grain corridor amounted to 1.3 million tons in May, less than half of the April figure.

“This is a very serious situation, we need to move forward. The initiative should be extended on July 17,” the UN representative emphasized.

According to Dujarric, the UN Secretariat has provided practical proposals for all parties to the Initiative at the strategic and operational level.

“We will continue to actively engage with the parties to fully resume operations as part of the continuation of the initiative. In particular, we are looking for commitments on unconditional access of vessels to all three ports under the initiative, an increase in the number of inspections per day and expected registrations to avoid unnecessary delays of vessels, export of fertilizers, including ammonia, and the restoration (of) the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline,” the UN representative said.

As reported, the day before, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine said that the Black Sea Grain Initiative was again suspended as Russia blocked the registration of incoming fleet to all Ukrainian ports. In particular, on May 30 and 31, Russia registered only 1 incoming vessel for inspection at the port of Chornomorsk, while other parties to the JCC confirmed 10 vessels for participation in the Black Sea Initiative at all three ports.

Earlier, Ukraine’s largest port, Pivdennyi, suspended operations as Russia refuses to allow cargo ships to enter, effectively excluding it from the Black Sea Grain Initiative. According to the UN, the Pivdennyi port has not received a single ship under the agreement since May 2.

As a reminder, in May, Russia threatened to block the grain corridor, although the agreements provided for an automatic extension of its operation for four months, until July 18. In mid-April, Russia began to unreasonably restrict the work of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, and in May, it actually blocked it by refusing to register a new fleet and conduct inspections of the fleet that was being loaded into Ukrainian ports.

On May 17, Russia allegedly agreed to extend the implementation of the agreement for another two months. On May 19, inspections of ships en route to Ukrainian ports, which had been suspended since May 7 due to the position of the Russian side in the Joint Coordination Center (JCC), resumed, but only for two of them.

Earlier, Dmitry Mazepin, co-owner of Russian fertilizer producers Uralchem, Uralkali, and Togliattiazot, asked Vladimir Putin to resolve the issue of resuming the transit of Russian ammonia for export through Odesa. This was officially reported by the Kremlin.

However, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly stated that he would support the idea of resuming Russian ammonia exports through Ukraine only if Russia returns all Ukrainian prisoners of war.

The “Grain Initiative”, introduced in July 2022, allowed grain exports from three Ukrainian ports: “Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Pivdennyi.

Tags: Russia, restrictions, Black Sea grain corridor