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Talks on agricultural exports from Russia stalled — source

According to another source, certain progress on these issues was reached at the end of last year but stopped in January

A wheel loader works in a storage facility for compound fertilizers at the Nevinnomyssky Azot fertilizer plant in Nevinnomyssk Erik Romanenko/TASS

A wheel loader works in a storage facility for compound fertilizers at the Nevinnomyssky Azot fertilizer plant in Nevinnomyssk

© Erik Romanenko/TASS

UNITED NATIONS, February 9. /TASS/. Talks between the United Nations, Russia, Ukraine, the United States, and the European Union of further facilitation of exports of agricultural products and fertilizers have been faced with problems, with no progress made in recent time, UN sources told TASS on Wednesday.

"As of now, efforts toward a solution on export of ammonia fertilizers via the Togliatti-Odessa pipeline and re-connecting of Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT system are failing," a source said.

According to another source, certain progress on these issues was reached at the end of last year but stopped in January. He refused to go into detail of the reasons for that but noted that the work continues, with a hope for agreements still in place.

A package of documents geared to resolve the problem of food and fertilizer supplies on global markets was signed on July 22 in Istanbul for a term of 120 days. One of the agreements regulating grain exports from the Kiev-controlled ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny was to expire on November 19. On November 17, the agreements were extended for 120 more days. According to the Russian foreign ministry, the deal was automatically extended since there were no objections from either of the parties to it (Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, the United Nations).

Along with that, Russia and the United Nations signed a memorandum envisaging that the UN will take steps to lift various restrictions on exports of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers on global market.

Terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall

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