Vladimir Putin wants Russia to be able to transport fertilizer through the Ukrainian port of Odesa. The Russian president, who began a military raid in the Eastern European country in February, tells the Interfax news agency that he is discussing fertilizer exports within the United Nations (UN).
Russia and Ukraine are both significant exporters of fertilizer, and the war has driven up prices considerably, which means that farmers in poorer countries are at risk of being unable to grow crops.
In a conversation recorded by Interfax, businessman Dmitri Mazepin, owner of the Russian fertilizer producer Uralchem, asks Putin to restore fertilizer exports via Odessa. He should do this during talks about the so-called grain deal, in which Russia and Ukraine reached agreements last summer that made exporting grains and other agricultural products possible again.
“We are working on that with the UN,” Putin said. “They know my point of view, and I’m not against it.”
Until the beginning of the Russian invasion, Odesa was a vital transit port for ammonia, a necessary fertilizer. An ammonia pipeline with a capacity of 2.5 million tons annually runs between the Ukrainian city on the Black Sea and Togliatti in Russia.
