Russia said Wednesday it was ready to work with the United Nations to combat the risks of a global food crisis and to meet its commitments to export food and fertilizers.
The commitments were made during a conversation between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, according to a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry.
However, the communiqué does not mention any new concrete steps and reiterates previous Russian claims that Ukrainian actions and Western sanctions are responsible for the crisis.
“It was emphasized that the export of Ukrainian cereals is hindered by the demining of the Black Sea from Kyiv,” he said.
“In addition, it reaffirmed Russia’s readiness to continue to comply with its commitments to export food and fertilizers, despite the fact that their implementation is significantly complicated by the illegal unilateral sanctions imposed by Western countries and the cessation of world production and of supply chains due to the coronavirus pandemic “, the announcement states. .
Russia’s war in Ukraine has exacerbated the global food crisis, sending up prices for cereals, cooking oils, fuel and fertilizers.
Russia and Ukraine account for almost a third of the world’s wheat supplies, while Russia is also a major global exporter of fertilizers and Ukraine is a major exporter of maize and sunflower oil.
Since the Russian invasion on February 24, Ukrainian grain shipments from Black Sea ports have stopped and millions of tons of grain remain in silos. Moscow says the burden falls on Kyiv to remove mines from ports to free up passageways.
Russia says Western sanctions against it are exacerbating the situation. The sanctions do not directly target its cereals and fertilizers, but have hit exports due to the difficulty of settling shipping, insurance and financing.
Lavrov told Guterres that Moscow was willing to work further to reduce the threat of a food crisis, including in coordination with the United Nations, the statement said, without elaborating.
Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ
Source: Capital
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