Latvia’s Foreign Ministry announced Saturday that the U.N.’s World Food Programme is shipping the first Russian fertilizer seized last year to Kenya.
Russia has cited the seizure as a major obstacle to participating in a Black Sea grain arrangement letting Ukraine export wheat.
The ministry said a vessel with part of the 200,000 tonnes of seized fertilizer left Riga on Friday.
A government spokeswoman said several more vessels would transfer the fertilizer confiscated in March 2022.
Russia has stated that it will not extend the Black Sea export arrangement brokered by the U.N. and Turkey in July 2022 beyond May 18 unless its demands for grain and fertilizer exports are met.
Russia’s foreign ministry has consistently cited fertilizers in Baltic Sea ports as a major obstacle to the accord.
The Latvian government called the shipments a “donation” that it enabled as “support for the countries that have been affected by the food crisis triggered by Russia’s war on Ukraine.”
The shipment’s impact on a grains deal extension or Russia’s satisfaction was unclear.
Next week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres will meet in New York to discuss the grains pact and other concerns.
Lavrov said Russia’s concerns had been ignored.
According to market sources and Reuters data, Uralchem and Uralkali (URKAI.MM) own most of the fertilizer confiscated in Latvia.
After the E.U. sanctioned him in March 2022 as “a member of Vladimir Putin’s closest circle,” Russian businessman Dmitry Mazepin gave up control of the enterprises last year. The Latvian government called the shipments a “donation” that it enabled as “support for the countries that have been affected by the food crisis triggered by Russia’s war on Ukraine.”
The shipment’s impact on a grains deal extension or Russia’s satisfaction was unclear.
Next week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres will meet in New York to discuss the grains pact and other concerns.
Lavrov said Russia’s concerns had been ignored.
According to market sources and Reuters data, Uralchem and Uralkali (URKAI.MM) own most of the fertilizer confiscated in Latvia.
After the E.U. sanctioned him in March 2022 as “a member of Vladimir Putin’s closest circle,” Russian businessman Dmitry Mazepin gave up control of the enterprises last year.
In February, the Uralchem-Uralkali Group said it would contribute over 34,000 tonnes of Latvian fertilizer to Kenya.
