A truck being loaded with grains at the facility after it
was shelled repeatedly, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Chernihiv
region, Ukraine (Image: Reuters/Representative Image)
US Secretary of
State Antony Blinken gave support Monday to reports that Russia has stolen
grain from Ukraine for
resale, even as Moscow blocks the country from exporting its own corn.
“There are credible
reports… that Russia is pilfering Ukraine’s grain exports to sell for its own
profit," Blinken said at a State Department conference on food security
issues arising from the invasion of Ukraine.
“Now, Russia is hoarding
its food exports as well," Blinken added, outlining the reasons for the
sharp surge in global prices for wheat and other grains, and looming shortages.
The war “is having a
devastating impact on global food security because Ukraine is one of the
breadbaskets of the world," Blinken said.
The New York Times reported Monday that a number of freight
vessels have departed Russia-controlled ports with what US officials have
described as “stolen Ukrainian grain."
It said that the United
States has alerted 14 countries, mostly in Africa, about the shipments, as many
of them are dependent on grain imports and already face severely constrained
supplies.
Blinken said the Russian
navy has blocked grain carriers from leaving the Black Sea port of Odessa, in
an effort to “blackmail" the world into supporting Moscow’s war.
“Right now a Russian naval
blockade in the Black Sea is preventing Ukraine’s crops from being shipped to
their normal destinations," he said.
“There is somewhere around
20 million tonnes of wheat that is trapped in silos near Odessa, and in ships
literally filled with grain that are stuck in the Odessa port because of this
Russian blockade."
Blinken said it was a
deliberate strategy by Russian President Vladimir Putin to force the rest of
the world “to give in to him," and eliminate sanctions on russia.
“In other words, quite
simply put, it’s blackmail," Blinken said.
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