UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th February, 2023) Moscow expects that part of Russian fertilizers blocked in Europe will be sent to Eswatini, and asked the UN to help resolve this issue, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzia said in an interview with Sputnik.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last month that Russia and Eswatini would appeal to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres with a request to promptly send part of Russian fertilizers blocked in Europe to the African state.
"For our part, we sent a request to the UN secretary-general to assist the kingdom in this matter. We are looking forward to a positive outcome," Nebenzia said.
In addition, Syria asked Moscow for a free supply of Russian fertilizers, the diplomat said, noting that the situation in the country is especially difficult due to sanctions against Damascus.
"We publicly raised the question of the need to resolve this problem as soon as possible in the UN Security Council and appealed to the leadership of the organization to facilitate this and bring this matter to an end," Nebenzia added.
Moscow has offered to supply Russian fertilizers blocked in the ports of Latvia, Estonia, Belgium and the Netherlands to the poorest countries free of charge. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the first and only batch of Russian fertilizers stuck in Europe since September 2022 was shipped from the Netherlands to Malawi on February 7. The remaining cargo still cannot leave European ports.
