MOSCOW

Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman on Thursday urged the UN to make the Western countries lift restrictions from operations related to the export of Russian fertilizers.

Speaking at a news conference in Moscow, Maria Zakharova noted the necessity of lifting the ban on entering of Russian ships to foreign ports and foreign ships to Russian ports.

She also said sanctions on the Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank), which handles the lion's share of transactions related to the agricultural sector, hinder the export of fertilizers.

"The position of Western countries is interesting from a practical point of view. They implement their part of the deal only when there is substantive pressure, including through the UN, and they don't want to do it normally.

"We expect the UN to make efforts to get the Europeans and Americans to remove a number of obstacles that do not allow us to fully supply Russian fertilizers and grain to the world market.

"We are talking about permission for Russian ships to enter European ports, foreign ships to enter Russian ports, it is necessary to lift sanctions from Rosselkhozbank, because it handles the lion's share of all transactions with fertilizers and food," she said.

Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed an agreement on July 22 in Istanbul to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports, which were paused after the Russia-Ukraine war began in February. A Joint Coordination Center with officials from the three countries and the UN was set up in Istanbul to oversee the shipments.

Zakharova said the US is becoming a party to the conflict in Ukraine, because the Ukrainian commanders coordinate which targets to choose with the American military.

"During the referendums, the HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems supplied by the United States were used, the choice of targets the AFU (Armed Forces of Ukraine) must coordinate with the American military," she said.

Commenting on the condemnation of referendums in Ukraine's four regions, Zakharova said those, who do not recognize them, do not want to accept the reality.

Zakharova also criticized the US for "insolent behavior" in the cyberspace.

Meanwhile, she said Moscow and Washington are considering the resumption of inspections under the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and that Russia would like to have "pragmatic cooperation" with the US in space.

Russia asks explanation from US on Nord Stream accident

The spokeswoman also urged Washington to give explanations regarding threats against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that were voiced at the highest level.

She cited the speech of US President Joe Biden, who said on Feb. 8 that "if Russia invades Ukraine there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2, we will bring end to it."

She also reminded that NATO held military exercises with the use of deep-water equipment in July.

Zakharova doubted the international investigation of sabotage on the Nord Stream gas pipelines will be objective, noting that Russia has already been accused of involvement while European countries "do not even allow the idea that their allies may be behind" the accident on gas pipelines.

"An absolute beneficiary of this situation is Washington. The decommissioning of gas pipelines, to summarize briefly what has been said by American officials over the past few years, will allow the United States to increase LNG supplies to the EU," she said.

She noted that Russia asked holding a meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the accident with the pipelines in the Baltic Sea, but at the US request it was delayed.