An agreement was reached in Brussels on Thursday aimed at partially exempting Russian fertilizer and chemical magnates from the sanctions imposed by the European Union, according to a EUObserver piece.
According to diplomatic sources, the list includes fertilizer tycoons Andrey Melnichenko and his wife Aleksandra, Andrey Guryev and Moshe Kantor, chemicals tycoon Dmitry Mazepin, and farming billionaire Vadim Moshkovich.
The sanctions that were previously imposed were based on the Russian magnate’s opinions on Russian war in Ukraine. All of them were under asset restrictions and visa bans.
A big win for food security
The agreement gives freedom to individual countries in the EU to lift the sanctions, but only if this action is seriously connected to speeding up the process of transportation of food and fertilizer, particularly to countries in Africa.
Before taking any action, all members of the EU should consult the European Commission on whether they can move forward with their ban lift.
The agreement was reached after a negotiation round that occurred on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels.
The deal also enabled a much broader compromise on the ninth round of sanctions aimed at Russia, set to go into effect on Friday.
The solution was expected as, both Poland and Lithuania previously issued threats of blocking everything if they were part of any kind of EU-wide asset ban lift on the fertilizer’s magnates.
Other countries such as Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Spain, have all been calling for some kind of compromise for the sake of global food security.
Some diplomats in favor of the ban lift pointed out that famine and food shortages are a real risk if the EU sanctions continue to hamper the port authorities.
Earlier, Lithuania and Poland had issued a warning that the fertiliser decision would make it impossible for the EU sanctions system to function.
