The United States on July 14 sought to reassure businesses that facilitate Russian food and fertilizer exports that their transactions would not breach sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
The U.S. Treasury Department issued statements on its website aimed at reassuring banks, shipping, and insurance companies that handle certain Russian commodities that their activities are not restricted by sanctions.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which oversees U.S. sanctions, issued a broad general license to authorize certain transactions related to agricultural commodities, agricultural equipment, medicine, and medical devices.
Enabling exports of Russian food and fertilizer is a key part of attempts by the United Nations and Turkish officials to broker a deal with Moscow that would also allow for shipments of Ukrainian grain that are stuck in silos because of Ukrainian Black Sea ports have been blockaded by the war.
The Treasury Department's announcement says the United States "strongly supports efforts by the United Nations to bring both Ukrainian and Russian grain to world markets and to reduce the impact of Russia's unprovoked war on Ukraine on global food supplies and prices."
The department also issued a fact sheet “to further clarify that the United States has not imposed sanctions on the production, manufacturing, sale, or transport of agricultural commodities (including fertilizer), agricultural equipment, or medicine relating to the Russian Federation (Russia).”
The U.S. clarification came a day after Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish, and UN officials met in Istanbul for talks aimed at resuming Ukraine's grain exports.
Turkey said after the talks that the parties would return next week to sign a deal.
Moscow has denied responsibility for worsening the food crisis, blaming Western sanctions for slowing its own food and fertilizer exports and Ukraine for mining its Black Sea ports.
Eduard Zernin, head of the Russian Union of Grain Exporters, described the U.S. move as "an act of goodwill" and a "real step in the fight against world hunger."
"We sincerely hope that other countries involved will follow this example and issue the necessary clarifications and licenses in order to remove hidden sanctions that hinder the supply of grain to countries in need," he told Reuters.
The war in Ukraine has sent prices soaring for grains, cooking oils, fuel, and fertilizer, raising concerns that the situation could worsen a global food crisis affecting some of the world’s poorest countries.
Ukraine and Russia are major global wheat suppliers. Russia is also a large fertilizer exporter, while Ukraine is a significant producer of corn and sunflower oil.