The European Union on Monday accused Russia of committing a “true war crime” by blocking Ukrainian grain exports at the risk of aggravating the threat of famine in the world.
• Read also: Threats from Russia after restrictions on transit through Lithuania
• Read also: Biden considers a visit to Ukraine ‘unlikely’ during his European tour
• Read also: Vodka with “Tears of Zelensky” sold in Russia
The Twenty-Seven also launched an action plan to help Africa during a meeting of their heads of diplomacy in Luxembourg.
“Twenty million tons of wheat remain stuck in Ukraine. This creates hunger or even starvation. This is a deliberate attempt to use food as a weapon of war”, denounced the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell at the end of the meeting.
“It is a real war crime. I can’t imagine it will last much longer: otherwise it would really be something for which Russia would be held responsible,” he warned on his arrival.
“Russia must stop playing with hunger in the world,” warned French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.
“Russia must end the blockade of Ukraine’s ports and stop destroying storage infrastructure in Ukraine,” she added.
Ms. Colonna also promised to help the Ukrainians “in the long term” on the political, humanitarian and military levels. “A message is sent to Russia and it must understand it”, she underlined.
However, no new financial package is currently under discussion, according to Josep Borrell. “I will not give an indication of the weapons provided, but from the financial point of view, we have not yet exhausted the funds of the fourth installment,” he said.
EU member states have allocated two billion euros in four tranches of 500 million to fund arms purchases and deliveries to Ukraine.
The Europeans have also promised to allocate one billion euros to fight against food insecurity caused in Africa by the blocking of Ukrainian cereal exports and Moscow’s increase in the price of its cereal sales via a 30% tax on the export, announced Josep Borrell.
“Today I submitted to (European) ministers an action plan to boost agricultural production, stabilize trade and launch greater international cooperation,” he added.
To fight against the misinformation practiced by Moscow, the Spanish official announced that he would send a letter to all African ministers in charge of foreign affairs “to explain to them the European sanctions and their scope of action”. “The European sanctions do not concern cereal exports or fertilizers,” he recalled.
“The EU will continue to pay for its gas purchases from Russia. African countries can continue to buy grain and fertilizers from Russia. Not all Russian banks have been excluded from the international SWIFT system,” Borrell stressed.
“It is Russia that is blocking grain exports from Ukraine, destroying ports, infrastructure and food stocks,” he insisted.
“Russia’s war against Ukraine will drag on and the toll will be heavy. Russian bombardments are increasing and aiming at civilian targets. The objective of the Kremlin is to annihilate Ukraine, its cities, its infrastructures, to make the concept of the Ukrainian nation disappear,” he accused.