Washington considers “credible” that Moscow “steals” Ukrainian wheat “to sell it”

Is Russia making money off the back of Ukraine? This is the accusation made by the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken Monday, June 6. The diplomat judges “credible” information that Russia “Fly” Ukrainian grain exports, blocked due to the conflict, “to sell them for his own profit”. “It’s all deliberate”he said during a virtual conference on food insecurity, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of making “blackmail” to obtain a lifting of international sanctions against the invasion of Ukraine.

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He felt that Moscow had also started to keep its own food exports, after imposing a “naval blockade in the Black Sea which prevents Ukrainian crops from being transported” worldwide. the New York Times (in English) reported that Washington had warned 14 countries, mainly in Africa, in mid-May that Russian cargo ships were carrying “stolen Ukrainian grain”. Antony Blinken referred to this article from the American daily, without however directly confirming the alert addressed to African countries.

The Ukrainian ambassador in Ankara had accused Russia on Friday of “steal” and to export Ukrainian cereals, in particular to Turkey. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that 20 to 25 million tonnes of grain were currently blocked in Ukraine due to the war, a volume that could triple by autumn. “We need maritime corridors and we are discussing this with Turkey and the United Kingdom” as well as with the UN, he said.

Since February 24, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has pitted two cereal superpowers against each other – Russia and Ukraine together account for 30% of world wheat exports. It caused a spike in the prices of cereals and oils, the prices of which exceeded those reached during the Arab springs of 2011 and “the food riots” of 2008.