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<\/div>\nRussia is 99.9% certain to quit a U.N.-brokered deal on the safe wartime passage of Black Sea grain next month because it no longer needs Ukrainian ports to export ammonia, a senior Ukrainian diplomat said.<\/p>\n
The United Nations and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative with Moscow and Kyiv last July to help tackle a global food crisis worsened by Russia\u2019s invasion of its neighbor and a blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports.<\/p>\n
Moscow has threatened not to extend the agreement beyond July 18 unless a series of demands, including the removal of obstacles to Russian grain and fertilizer exports, are met.<\/p>\n
The Black Sea export deal also allows for the safe export of ammonia \u2013 an important ingredient in nitrate fertilizer \u2013 but none has been shipped under the initiative.<\/p>\n
Russia has been pushing for the resumption of ammonia supplies via a pipeline through Ukraine to the Black Sea port of Odesa that has lain idle since last year.<\/p>\n
Olha Trofimtseva, Ukraine\u2019s foreign ministry ambassador at large, said Russian ammonia producer Uralchem had found an alternative route and does not need to export ammonia via Odesa.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe grain corridor. 99.9% that Russia will leave it in July,\u201d Trofimtseva said on the Telegram messaging app late on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Uralchem CEO Dmitry Konyaev said last month a specialized ammonia terminal whose first construction stage is due to be completed on the Taman Peninsula in Russia by the end of 2023 could be a substitute for the Odesa pipeline.<\/p>\n
Plan B?<\/strong><\/p>\n Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky said this month Kyiv had a Plan B if Russia decided to quit the Black Sea deal.<\/p>\n He said the government had created a special insurance fund of around $547 million for companies whose ships would come to Ukrainian Black Sea ports under a new arrangement.<\/p>\n Ukraine has also said it can export grain via its small Danube river ports as well as through its Western border with the European Union.<\/p>\n Trofimtseva, a former acting agriculture minister, said Ukraine had to prepare, but expressed doubt that how much the insurance fund would help with exports.<\/p>\n Referring to Russia\u2019s invasion, she said: \u201cOn this summer day, we should already think about winter. We are going to enter the second military winter, and I think it may be much more difficult than the previous one. From all points of view.\u201d<\/p>\n (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Editing by Timothy Heritage)<\/p>\n Photograph: The cargo vessel Razoni sailing en route to Tripoli, Lebanon, along the Bosphorus Strait, near Istanbul, Turkey, on Aug. 3, 2022. Photo credit: Ozan Kose\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n Topics<\/span> Russia<\/a> Ukraine<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Was this article valuable?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n