Russia Condemned for Fueling the Global Food Crisis

On June 6th, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and European Council President Charles Michel condemned Russia of fueling a global food crisis in different occasions respectively. During a State Department press conference on food security, Blinken remarked that there were credible reports that Russia was stealing Ukraine’s grain and selling it for profits. He noted that Moscow’s pilfering Ukraine grain was one of its tactics in the aggressive war, Russian authority sought to exacerbate the food crisis by hitting the exports of Ukrainian agricultural products.

During a U.N. Security Council meeting on the issue of Ukraine, European Council President Charles Michel also condemned Russia for global food security, saying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine contributed to the food crisis and Kremlin was using food supplies as a stealth missile against developing countries. Russia was solely responsible for this food crisis, he added. Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia stormed out of the Security Council chamber during Michel’s statement.

It is learnt that given a large number of Ukrainians were forced to abandon farming since Russia’s aggression on Feb 24th, the prices for wheat, other grains, cooking oils and fertilizers have been soaring worldwide. Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies, while Russia is also a fertilizer exporter and Ukraine is an exporter of corn and sunflower oil. In addition, with the overwhelming superiority, a Russian naval blockade in the Black Sea has been preventing Ukraine’s crops from being shipped to their normal destinations. There were around 20 million tons of wheat trapped in silos near Odessa and in ships stuck in the Odessa port. Blinken said Russia-Ukraine was having a devastating impact on global food security, and Russia’s blockade was deliberate which Putin hoped would get the world to give in to him and end the sanctions.