The European Union, NATO and the United Nations on Sunday called on Russia to resume grain exports from Ukraine, a day after Moscow announced its decision following drone strikes on its Black Sea fleet in Crimea.
NATO asked Russia to urgently renew its participation in the grain export agreement signed in July and brokered by Turkey and the UN. “President Putin must stop using food as a weapon and end his illegal war against Ukraine,” NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said. “We urge Russia to reconsider its decision and urgently renew the agreement so that food gets to those who need it most.”
The United Nations Secretary-General said he was “deeply concerned” about the situation, his spokesman said in a statement. According to Stéphane Dujarric, António Guterres is committed to “intensive consultations” with Russia to overturn the decision to suspend the agreement, which is vital to the world’s food supply, Arab League in Algiers.
According to the statement, Guterres will continue to work “on the renewal of the agreement and its full implementation”, in order to “facilitate the export of food and fertilizers from Ukraine, as well as removing obstacles that still exist in the export of Russian products.” “.
This Sunday, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, spoke with the UN Secretary-General to “coordinate actions to ensure the export of grains and fertilizers from Ukraine”. On Twitter, Borrell asked Moscow to backtrack on the agreement allowing the export of Ukrainian grain. “The European Union will do its part to contain the global food crisis,” assured the head of European diplomacy.
The European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevicius, said Russia “finds” the reason for blocking the pact, citing the attack on Sevastopol that Moscow used as an argument for suspending the agreement. “Another proof of who is really responsible for the food crisis in developing countries. Russia can and must end these ‘hunger games’ on the lives of millions of people,” the commissioner added.
Moscow launches accusations
Kiev said on Sunday that the grain export route through the Black Sea was blocked, and Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov posted a photo of the cargo ship on Twitter. Ikaria Engel which he said should have sailed today, loaded with 40,000 tons of grain. “This food was destined for Ethiopia, which is on the brink of famine, but the blockade of the ‘grain corridor’ by Russia has made exports impossible,” he said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russia’s withdrawal from the agreement resulted in the blockade of 176 ships that had already left Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea. According to Kuleba, the cargo includes a total of two million tons of grain, enough to feed seven million people. “Russia decided a long time ago to resume its hunger games and is now trying to justify it,” the head of Ukrainian diplomacy said on Twitter.
The Turkish government began negotiations with Russia on Sunday to resume the grain and fertilizer export agreement with Ukraine, which the country canceled on Saturday after it condemned an attack by Kiev on its ships. An executive in Ankara, who asked not to be named, told Bloomberg that “there is cause for optimism” despite Russia’s assurances that its withdrawal from the deal would be indefinite.
In a statement, Turkey’s Defense Ministry assured today that inspections of ships carrying grain under the agreement will be carried out. “There are plans to continue the inspection of ships loaded with grain waiting in Istanbul,” the same document says.
Russia on Saturday announced the suspension of its participation in the agreement on grain exports from Ukrainian ports after a drone strike targeting the Russian fleet stationed in Sevastopol Bay, in annexed Crimea.
Earlier this Sunday, Moscow said it had found the remains of the drones that attacked its fleet, and said the devices used a “safe zone” of the corridor to transport grain and that one of them could have been launched from a “civilian ship”.
“Navy drones were moving in a safe part of the ‘grain path’,” the Russian defense ministry said, adding that one of the devices could have been launched “from a civilian ship chartered by Kiev or its western masters to to export agricultural products.” from the ports of Ukraine”.
with agencies
Source: DN
