U.N. official to visit Moscow in days to talk fertilizer exports

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS, May 25 (Reuters) - A senior United Nations official is due to visit Moscow in the coming days to "discuss the scheme by which we can export out fertilizers," Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told Reuters on Wednesday.

Nebenzia said that "formally fertilizers and grain are not under sanctions, but there are logistical, transport, insurance, bank transfer problems" created by Western sanctions imposed on Russia that "prevent us from exporting freely."

"We are prepared to export fertilizers and grain from our ports to the world market," he said, adding that when it came to Ukrainian grain exports - "I think that should be negotiated with the Ukrainians, not with Russians."

Nebenzia said Rebecca Grynspan was due to discuss Russian exports during a visit to Moscow.

Grynspan is head of the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development and coordinator of the U.N. Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance that was set up to help poor countries face economic shocks stemming from the war in Ukraine.

Nebenzia also said he believed U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths was due to visit Moscow sometime in early June, but that he did not know "to what extent" Griffiths was involved in the discussions on grain and fertilizer exports.

United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric declined to comment.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols at United Nations Editing by Matthew Lewis)