Russia is ready to launch the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline, but Ukraine slows down the process – Kommersant

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, announced Russia’s readiness to launch the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline in a matter of days. According to her, Ukraine slows down this process for almost a year.

“They are not interested in the starving people in Africa. Just as they are not interested in the supply of ammonia to Africa for the production of fertilizers so needed by tens of millions of African farms. Russia is ready without delay, in a matter of days, to launch the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline, while Kyiv has been slowing it down for almost a year, setting everything up with new conditions,” Ms. Zakharova said in a comment on website Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

Moscow again drew attention to the fact that Kyiv, as part of the grain deal, sends most of its agricultural products to “well-fed developed countries”, while African states account for only 2.5% of exports under the Black Sea Initiative. The Russian Foreign Ministry notes that Russian representatives are “literally” fighting “to include in the Black Sea initiative, first of all, dry cargo ships bound for Africa.”

The grain deal, concluded in the summer of 2022 between the Russian Federation, Ukraine, the UN and Turkey, involves opening ports in Ukraine for the export of agricultural products and unblocking the export of Russian food and fertilizers. Moscow has repeatedly criticized the implementation of the part of the deal that concerns its exports, but agreed to extend it. The Russian Federation promised to stop implementing the agreements after July 17 if its demands are not met. Among them is the resumption of operation of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline.

About the grain deal – in the material “Kommersant” “Wheat floats on.”

Leonid Uvarchev