UN hopeful for Russian fertiliser exports breakthrough

A U.N. senior official on Thursday voiced optimism that there would be a breakthrough in negotiations to ease exports of Russian fertilisers. A deal for extending a Black Sea grain export agreement was agreed in November, although Russia complained its concerns about fertiliser exports had not been addressed.

A U.N. senior official on Thursday voiced optimism that there would be a breakthrough in negotiations to ease exports of Russian fertilizers.

A deal for extending a Black Sea grain export agreement was agreed in November, although Russia complained its concerns about fertilizer exports had not been addressed. Secretary-General of the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development Rebeca Grynspan, who is in charge of the fertilizer aspect of the deal, said that she has been focused on overcoming remaining obstacles since the renewal.

"I am cautiously optimistic that we can have important progress soon," she told reporters in Geneva. She declined to give further details on the grounds for her optimism. Russian and Ukrainian representatives have previously discussed allowing Russia to resume ammonia exports, used to make fertilizers, in exchange for a prisoner swap that would release a large number of Ukrainian and Russian prisoners.

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Wednesday that a major prisoner-of-war swap deal was a "possibility" in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.