Russia is exporting more grain at higher prices than ever before while suppressing Ukrainian shipments, said Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a UN Security Council meeting on Thursday. “Every member of this council, every member of the United Nations should tell Moscow: Enough using the Black Sea as blackmail, enough treating the world’s most vulnerable people as leverage.”
World grain prices rose 8 percent after Russia withdrew on July 17 from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which allowed Ukraine to export grain by oceangoing vessels. Moscow said a parallel agreement exempting its food and fertilizer exports from international sanctions was not implemented adequately. Since then, it has attacked Ukrainian seaports and grain infrastructure.
At the Security Council session devoted to global food insecurity, Blinken announced $362 million in U.S. aid “to tackle the drivers of food insecurity and to enhance resilience in Haiti and 11 African countries, like getting nutritious food to pregnant women and helping farmers grow heartier and more diverse crops.” He also pointed to a shortfall in donations to the World Food Program to avert hunger. Only $4.5 billion, or 18 percent, of the WFP’s request has been pledged, he said. “All of us — all of us — can dig deeper.”