US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that Russia’s decision to withdraw from the Black Sea Grain Initiative is “unconscionable”.
“The result of Russia’s action today, weaponizing food, using it as a tool, as a weapon in its war against Ukraine, will be to make food harder to come by in places that desperately need it and have prices rise,” Blinken told reporters a press conference.
He added “we’re already seeing the market react to this, as prices are going up. The bottom line is it’s unconscionable. It should not happen”.
He stressed “this should be restored as quickly as possible and I hope that every country is watching this very closely”.
“They will see that Russia is responsible for denying food to people who are desperately need it around the world and to contribute to rising prices at a time when many countries continue to experience very difficult inflation,” he remarked.
Blinken continued “if Russia is ending this initiative and sending a message that grain cannot and other food products cannot leave Ukraine unimpeded, even if there are other options, I think it will likely have a profound chilling effect on the ability to pursue them as other countries, companies, shippers, etc. will be very concerned about what happens to their ships and to their personnel if Russia is opposing any export of food products from Ukraine”.
“The whole point of this was to have a voluntary agreement that involved all of the relevant parties that was endorsed by the United Nations to make sure that there was safety, security, predictability in moving food out of Ukraine into places that were desperately in need of it,” he said.
He affirmed that “in the absence of that, I think, yes, we’ll look at to see what else can be done to find other ways to get Ukrainian food products on the world market”.
Source: Kuwait News Agency