U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Russia of weaponizing food and holding grain for millions of people around the world hostage to help accomplish what its invasion of Ukraine has not -- “to break the spirit of the Ukrainian people.”
UNITED NATIONS — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Russia on Thursday of weaponizing food and holding grain for millions of people around the world hostage to help accomplish what its invasion of Ukraine has not -- “to break the spirit of the Ukrainian people.”
Since Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, he said, its naval operations have sought to control access to the northwestern Black Sea and the Sea of Azov and to block Ukrainian ports which the United States assesses to be “a deliberate effort” to block safe passage and shut down shipping. “You assert that allegedly we are preventing agricultural products from being taken out of Ukraine by sea,” he said. “However, the truth is that it is Ukraine and not Russia that has blocked 75 vessels from 17 states in the ports of Nikolaev, Kherson, Chernomorsk, Mariupol, Ochakov, Odesa and Yuzhniy and has mined the waterways.”
“If you do not want to lift your sanctions of choice, then why are you accusing us of causing this food crisis?" he asked. “Why is it that as a result of your irresponsible geopolitical games, the poorest countries and regions must suffer?” Blinken said sanctions imposed by the U.S. and many others aren’t preventing Russia from exporting food and fertilizers because they exempt exports of food, fertilizer and seeds. “And we’re working with countries every day to ensure that they understand that sanctions do not prevent the flow of these items,” he said.
Beasley recalled that when food prices got out of control in 2007 and 2008 over 40 countries faced political unrest, riots and protests.
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