Enabling those Russian exports is a key part of attempts by the United Nations and Turkish officials to broker a package deal with Moscow that would also allow for shipments of Ukraine grain from the Black Sea port of Odesa, which has been blockaded by the war, Reuters reported.
The written US clarification came a day after Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, and UN officials met in Istanbul for talks aimed at resuming Ukraine’s grain exports. Turkey announced that the parties would return next week to sign a deal.
The United States strongly supports efforts by the United Nations to bring both Ukrainian and Russian grain to world markets and to reduce the impact of the war on global food supplies and prices, said the US Treasury Department in the factsheet.
The war in Ukraine has sent prices soaring for grains, cooking oils, fuel, and fertilizer, stoking a global food crisis.
Ukraine and Russia are major global wheat suppliers, and Russia is also a large fertilizer exporter, while Ukraine is a significant producer of corn and sunflower oil.
The US Treasury made clear that the sale and transport of agricultural commodities, as well as medicine and medical devices, was allowed and would not be breaching a raft of sanctions that Washington has imposed on Russia.
Washington also stressed that there were no sanctions on Russia’s production, manufacturing, sale, or transport of agricultural commodities, including fertilizer, and that providing insurance or reinsurance for the transportation or shipping of those products was not prohibited.
RHM/PR