The UN has accused Russia of endangering food security in developing countries with its decision to withdraw from the so-called Black Sea agreements and its repeated shelling of Ukrainian ports in recent days.
“The events of the past week are just the latest developments in the Russian Federation’s senseless war against its neighbor, a war whose consequences are being felt around the world,” United Nations Political Affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo said.
DiCarlo, in a speech before the Security Council, stressed that the end of the Black Sea agreements and the attacks on “crucial ports” will only aggravate this crisis.
“The new wave of attacks against Ukrainian ports can have a great impact on global food security, in particular, in developing countries,” insisted the US diplomat, who also considers “unacceptable” Moscow’s “threats” about the possibility of attacking civilian ships in the Black Sea.
Since the start of the war, the Kremlin has tried to prevent the international impact of the conflict from losing support in the so-called global south, where it maintains friendly relations with a large number of governments.
Thus, for example, in recent days it has reiterated its willingness to supply free grain to African countries after the suspension of the Black Sea initiative for the export of Ukrainian cereals.
However, UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths has stressed that breaking that pact poses huge problems for vulnerable nations, especially in Africa and the Middle East.
“Global grain prices have soared, threatening to undo the progress made over the past year as markets stabilized, which could drive millions of people into hunger,” he said.
Griffiths recalled that much of the world depends on basic products such as wheat and corn and said that the higher prices will be suffered mainly by families in developing countries, who spend a significant part of their income on food.
For this reason, he has insisted that the Russian withdrawal from the Black Sea agreement was “immensely disappointing” and the events of the last four days, with attacks on ports and threats to ships transiting the area, “have been alarming.”
DiCarlo and Griffiths made this statement at an urgently called Security Council meeting to address the consequences of these latest moves by Moscow.
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