The Russian Federation “changed its mind” to restore ammonia transit through Ukraine
The Russian Federation refuses negotiations regarding the transit of ammonia through the Tolyatti-Odesa pipeline. Previously, Russia used the demand to restore the operation of the ammonia pipeline as a tool of blackmail.
A few weeks ago, UN Secretary General António Guterres put forward a proposal to all parties to the grain agreement to start negotiations on resuming the operation of the Tolyatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline, which the Kremlin has constantly insisted on. However, Russia itself refused to negotiate. This was stated by the Deputy Minister of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine Yuriy Vaskov during the Grain Ukraine conference.
Russia withdrew from the negotiation process, saying that other demands of the terrorist country must be met first. It is about reconnecting Rossilhospbank to the SWIFT system, resuming Russian exports of agricultural machinery, lifting restrictions on ship insurance and unblocking some foreign assets.
Yes, Russia is prolonging the negotiations as much as possible in order to continue blackmailing the world with the Grain Agreement. This once again confirms the manipulative nature of calls by the Russian Federation to restore the operation of the ammonia pipeline.
There is not a single word about ammonia in the Grain Agreement. These are additional requirements of Russia. However, in order to restore the operation of the ammonia pipeline, the Grain Agreement must be fully functional. It is logical that, in order to make additional demands, all parties must fulfill what they have already signed, noted Vaskov.
“The pipeline technically allows pumping 100,000 tons of ammonia per month. At today’s prices, this is about 28-30 million dollars of profit. This is not a big enough figure for Russia in an economic sense, if compared with what Ukraine expects from the Grain Agreement,” the official said.