U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has criticized the Kremlin’s decision to break the agreement to allow Ukrainian grain exports from Black Sea ports and urged Russia to keep «life-essential» exports in operation.
«Any act by Russia to disrupt these critical grain exports is essentially a statement that individuals and families around the world should pay more for food or go hungry,» Blinken has argued in a statement.
«By suspending this agreement, Russia is turning food back into weapons in the war it started, directly affecting low- and middle-income countries and global food prices, and exacerbating already dire humanitarian crises and food insecurity,» he has said.
For his part, the President of the United States has called this decision by Putin’s sphere «outrageous».
The Russian Defense Ministry announced Saturday the suspension of the agreement for the export of Ukrainian grain in retaliation for the «terrorist attack» on ships of the Black Sea Fleet based in the port of Sevastopol.
Russia has denounced through the spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, that London was directly involved. Shortly afterwards, it has been reported that Russia has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the attack, according to the Russian news agency TASS, citing the Russian permanent mission to the UN.
