New Delhi: Russia Thursday responded cryptically to a UN appeal to open Ukraine ports, saying the current food crisis in the world has resulted from the sanctions imposed on the country by the United States and the European Union.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on Wednesday said the failure to open Ukraine ports — to ship out grain — would force millions into starvation. Russia has blocked Ukrainian ships from leaving with grain that is vital for Africa and the Middle East.
Addressing a UN food security meeting, WFP chief David Beasley said “failure to open the ports would be a declaration of war on global food security, resulting in famine destabilisation of nations, as well as mass migration by necessity”.
“It is absolutely essential that we allow these ports to open because this is not just about Ukraine. This is about the poorest of the poor around the world who are on the brink of starvation as we speak,” Beasley said.
Beasley added Ukraine was a nation that grew enough grain to feed 400 million people and that was now out of production. It was critical, he said, that these farms get back in operation, stressing that “time was running out.”
Beasley then made a direct appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin, “So I ask President Putin, if you have any heart at all, please open these ports. Please assure everyone concerned that the passageways will be clear so that we can feed the poorest of the poor and avert famine, as we’ve done in the past, when nations in this room have stepped up together.”
Russia’s foreign ministry said Thursday it would consider opening access to Ukraine’s Black Sea ports if sanctions against Russia were also considered, The Guardian quoted Interfax news agency.
Russian deputy foreign minister, Andrei Rudenko said: “You have to not only appeal to the Russian Federation but also look deeply at the whole complex of reasons that caused the current food crisis and, in the first instance, these are the sanctions that have been imposed against Russia by the US and the EU that interfere with normal free trade, encompassing food products including wheat, fertilisers and others.”
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has also warned that the food crisis precipitated by the Russia-Ukraine crisis could cause “malnutrition, mass hunger and famine, in a crisis that could last for years” across the world.
The World Food Programme feeds nearly 125 million people and buys 50 per cent of its grain from Ukraine. Ukraine is among the top five global exporters of agricultural products such as corn, wheat and barley. The country is also a key exporter of sunflower and meal, The Guardian report said.
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