The U.S. is considering the possibility of temporarily lifting sanctions on Belarusian potash fertilizers in exchange for the transit of Ukrainian grain through the territory of Belarus. This is reported by the ProAgro Group, citing the publication of The Wall Street Journal.
According to the publication’s interlocutors, the cancellation of sanctions for a period of six months is being discussed. It is assumed that the delivery of grain from Ukraine will be carried out by rail through Belarus to the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda. At the same time, it is considered less convenient to export Ukrainian grain through Polish ports, as Poland has a different width of the railway gauge than Ukraine, and it takes a long time and slows down the process to change cars for other sets of wheels or to reload grain at the border.
Earlier, WSJ reported that UN Secretary General António Guterres proposed to soften restrictions on the export of potash fertilizers from Russia and Belarus in exchange for the admission of ships with grain from Ukrainian ports. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that in order to do this, it should first consider lifting sanctions on Russian exports.
For its part, Russia rejects the international community’s call to unblock the Ukrainian Black Sea ports, but admits the possibility of lifting such a blockade in exchange for the lifting of all sanctions that have been imposed on it because of the war in Ukraine.
