The Belgium Embassy has appealed to Kaliningrad Governor Vladimir Yegorov to resolve the problem. The delay is costing Belgian company Vimex 2,000 euros ($2,150) per day.
The ship Nona is carrying what was supposed to be the first of a series of shipments of much-needed manure for the exclave's farmers, Vimex said. However, when it approached the Pionersky port on Jan. 29, it was not allowed to dock.
Kaliningrad officials said the cargo does not have the right documents and that it should have been registered with the State Chemicals Commission, which registers agricultural chemicals.
"That's bullshit, or pig shit, whatever you like," said a frustrated Viktor Orlov, Vimex's representative in Kaliningrad, in a telephone interview.
Orlov said all the documents were verified by the Russian Embassy in Brussels and that the manure cannot be classified as an agrochemical.
"We have all the legal documents," he said. "We have a pure natural product.
"It is a ridiculous situation when people who know nothing about agriculture are insisting on registration."
Belgian Embassy official Andre de Rijck said Russian authorities are scared that the manure contains toxins.
"But we have certificates that it is all clean," he said.
Manure is never included on lists of agrochemicals, Orlov said. If it were, farms and anyone else who uses manure would have to register with the State Chemicals Commission as well, he said.
In addition to the shipment's documents being checked by the Russian Embassy, test results for the manure were completed by the labs of the Agriculture Ministry, Orlov said.
The 1,800-ton shipment was supposed to be the first of 50,000 tons arriving from Belgium this year.
The manure is being brought over and given for free to farmers, who only have to pay to transport it from the port to their farms. Vimex said it hoped to later sell seeds and other products to the farmers it helps.
Orlov said Kaliningrad farmers have been calling him up and wishing him luck getting the manure to port.
"There is a lack of cattle. There is a lack of manure. We think this is very important for agriculture in Russia," Orlov said.
Some media reports have speculated that the decision not to allow the manure into Kaliningrad was made by the governor.
Yury Krupnich, an agricultural consultant for the regional administration, denied that Yegorov had anything to do with the delay, saying various federal authorities at the port made the decision.
He acknowledged, however, that the administration was worried about potentially toxic shipments.
A few years ago, the administration spent 5 million rubles ($156,000) to destroy a consignment of dangerous insecticides from Lithuania after a port official made an error and allowed it to come to port, Krupnich said.
He insisted that the Belgian manure lacked a number of documents and that it was an agrochemical.
He also said Kaliningrad has enough manure.
The State Chemical Commission refused to comment, as did the governor's office.
"He does not deal with manure," said Kaliningrad administration spokesman Valentin Yegorov.
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