On 17 October 2024, with support from the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme, the vessel “Asian Majesty” departed from the Gulf of Riga en route to Sri Lanka, carrying a load of 55,000 tonnes of mineral fertilisers.
This is the fourth shipment of mineral fertilisers of Russian origin that are stored in Latvia and belong to companies subject to the European Union’s sanctions. The previous three shipments, totalling 75,000 tonnes, were delivered to Kenya, Zimbabwe and Nigeria in 2023.
As reported earlier by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on 6 December 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to respond to the United Nations request to mitigate the negative consequences of the Russia’s war in Ukraine and to help address the food crisis in African and Latin American countries. The Cabinet of Ministers passed a decision to support the donation, through the UN World Food Programme, of mineral fertilisers owned by companies subject to EU sanctions.
The United Nations World Food Programme continues to organize the removal of approximately 72,000 tonnes of sanctioned mineral fertilizer remaining in the territory of Latvia so as to help the countries most in need of those products.
Taking advantage of the fact that agreement on the destination of donations is a time-consuming process, Russia continues to spread its war propaganda, wrongly accusing Latvia and the European Union as a whole of obstructing the donation of mineral fertilizers and putting countries that face food security threat at risk of food shortages.
Latvia, together with its foreign partners and international organisations, continues to provide support in various ways to countries that have suffered as a result of the food crisis triggered by Russia’s war in Ukraine.