U.S. Urges Russia To 'Stop Holding Global Food Supplies Hostage'

Washington D.C./24.05.23/Turan:  The State Department on Tuesday once again called on Russia to "stop holding global food supplies hostage," as Spokesperson Matthew Miller put it, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

The move came as Ukraine accused Moscow of effectively cutting the port of Pivdennyi out of a deal that allows safe Black Sea grain exports.

"Russia continues to obstruct the normal operations of this lifesaving initiative," Miller told a daily briefing when responding to TURAN's questions.

"We should be very clear about what happened here," he went on to explain: "The parties agreed to enable unimpeded exports of Ukrainian food from three ports. Now Russia is refusing to allow ships to one of those three. It is a clear violation of their commitments under the Black Sea Grain Initiative."

The Black Sea deal - brokered last summer in Istanbul by the UN and Turkey and extended last week for two months - covers the wartime export of food and fertiliser from 3 Ukrainian ports: Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi.

According to Miller, Russia's obstruction of this initiative and threats to withdraw from the deal "threaten to push up global food prices, threaten to reduce food accessibility for vulnerable populations around the world"

Alex Raufoglu