The United States is actively considering the possibility of canceling the sanctions for six months in relation to the potassium fertilizer industry in exchange for creating a corridor for transporting grain from Ukraine, reports The Wall Street Journal with reference to sources in the American administration.
According to the publication, the United States is looking for ways to overcome the food crisis and therefore the proposal to temporarily remove part of the sanctions from Belarus was in the spotlight. The idea is to transport grain by rail from Ukraine along the territory of Belarus to the north, to the port city of Claiped, and not to direct it by sea by the Black Sea.
As the Wall Street Journal writes, the UN employees and some diplomats support the initiative.
At the same time, as a senior American official told the newspaper, Washington is unlikely to decide to lift sanctions from Belarus, since Ukraine is opposed to such a prospect. The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky set out a corresponding position in a conversation with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Johnson, according to sources, agreed with the Ukrainian leader and said that there was no need to remove sanctions against Belarus to transport grain. The officials of the State Department also do not want to cancel sanctions, because they doubt that the agreement with the Belarusian side will work, writes the newspaper.
Meanwhile, the White House National Security Council believes that a possible agreement is the only viable option, albeit quite complicated. So far, the US official offers have not made Belarus and continue to study available opportunities, the newspaper notes. At the same time, efforts are made in the other direction. UN employees and officials of Western countries are trying to convince Russia to export grain and fertilizers in the Black Sea in more significant volumes. The delegation of American officials, according to the official of the State Department, holds meetings with representatives of a number of governments, claiming that those who are associated with the export of fertilizers and food from Russia will not fall under sanctions.