Russian food, medicine and fertiliser outside of US sanction purview

The western nations’ sanctions against Russia triggered a global food supply chain disruption and high inflation. However, the US government has clarified that agro commodities, fertiliser and medicine do not fall under the purview of sanctions.

Due to the clarification, the global food supply chain will be relaxed gradually and all countries including Bangladesh will be among the beneficiaries.

In a statement on July 14, the Department of the Treasury of the US government said, “The United States has not imposed sanctions on the production, manufacturing, sale, or transport of agricultural commodities (including fertiliser), agricultural equipment, or medicine relating to the Russian Federation (Russia).”

The country also issued a broad general license (GL) to authorise certain transactions related to agricultural commodities, agricultural equipment, medicine, and medical devices.

Russia and Ukraine are one of the largest food and fertiliser suppliers to the global markets. Many Middle-East, Europe and African countries

along with Bangladesh are highly dependent on their wheat, fertiliser and sunflower oil.

Bangladesh is the fifth largest wheat importer and Russia was the largest supplier of this grain to Bangladesh before 2021. Although Bangladesh imported the majority of the wheat from India due to the country being closer, Russia was the second largest supplier before its war with Ukraine.

But after the Russian-Ukraine war, the US and their allies imposed sanctions against Russia and cut off some of the country’s banks from the SWIFT system. Following these moves, western-owned shipping lines boycott Russian goods, including agro items to implement the sanction.

For this reason, the global wheat market faced a supply crisis, while at the same time, India banned the food grain’s exports. Bangladesh now has no alternatives to importing wheat from Canada, USA and Australia with almost double the rate.

Many other countries are also facing the same problem.

To find a solution, Turkey held several meetings with Russia and Ukraine, the United Nation (UN) and discussed the issue of food security. After long discussions, both parties agreed to allow transportation of food grain through Black Sea and Sea of Azov.

But due to the western nations’ sanctions, this process was uncertain. But the US government finally clarified that such commodities are out of the sanctions’ purview.

In a statement, the US Treasury Department had said, “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.”

“Agricultural and medical trade are not targets of the sanctions imposed by the United States on Russia for its atrocities in Ukraine.”

The statement added, “The United States has not imposed sanctions on the exportation of agricultural commodities from, to, or involving Russia.

“It has imposed a prohibition on the importation of Russian Federation-origin fish, seafood, and preparations thereof into the US; but it does not restrict the importation thereof from Russia into other countries besides the US.”

The US government said the country had not imposed sanctions on the exportation of fertiliser from, to, transiting, or involving Russia.