(Washington) The United States and the United Kingdom jointly called on Tuesday for the extension of the agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, denouncing the fact that Russia continues to use food “as of a weapon”.
“In recent days, Russia has again blocked the entry of ships into Ukrainian ports to load grain, a cynical act which has the direct result of reducing the quantity of food on world markets and, de facto, ‘it happens to those in need in Africa, the Middle East and around the world,’ US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said at a press conference.
“The world shouldn’t have to remind Russia every two or three weeks not to use people’s hunger as a weapon in its war against Ukraine,” the secretary of state added.
“It is completely immoral for Russia to use the hunger of the poorest people in the world as leverage in this conflict,” added his British counterpart James Cleverly, visiting Washington.
The so-called Black Sea agreement, signed on July 22 for 120 days by the UN, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey, helped ease the global food crisis caused by the war, and was renewed for four month.
It expires on May 18 and Russia has not agreed to a third renewal.
Russia denounces in particular the non-application of a second agreement with Ukraine to allow its own exports of cereals and fertilizers. Moscow complains of not being able to sell its production and its fertilizers because of Western sanctions affecting the financial and logistics sectors in particular.
The United States rejects this argument and assures that it does not fall under the thumb of American sanctions.
Ukraine is one of the world’s leading grain producers.