"Russia Holds Global Food Supply Hostage"… US Secretary of State Criticizes Weaponization of Food

Russia "Food crisis lasting for years, not our fault"
US considers providing Ukraine with anti-ship missiles to attack Russian warships

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken strongly condemned Russia, which invaded Ukraine, for exacerbating the global food crisis and demanded that Russian forces lift the blockade of Ukrainian ports. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, more than 20 million tons of grain have not been shipped, accelerating the food crisis in extremely poor countries, mainly in the Middle East and Africa.

On the 18th (local time), Secretary Blinken, at the United Nations headquarters in New York during a Security Council meeting on the global food crisis, stated, "Russian forces are holding food supplies hostage to Ukraine and the world," and strongly criticized, saying, "Russia must guarantee that Ukrainian ships and trains can freely transport food for export and must lift the blockade of ports in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov."

The Russian side immediately rebutted Secretary Blinken's criticism. Vasily Nebenzya, Russia's ambassador to the UN, said in a public statement, "The political culture of Western countries today can be well characterized as a struggle to blame everything on Russia," and "The years-long food crisis cannot be entirely attributed to Russia; on the contrary, Ukraine is detaining foreign ships at its ports, and Russian forces are attempting to open safe corridors."

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, major Ukrainian ports around the Black Sea have been blockaded, reportedly worsening famine mainly in the Middle East and Africa. According to the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), a U.S. think tank, more than 25 million tons of grain exports have been blocked since the war between the two countries, leading 14 countries, including Indonesia, Iran, Algeria, and Serbia, to ban exports of cooking oil, grain, and meat citing food security concerns.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government is expected to support Ukraine with anti-ship missiles so that Ukrainian forces can directly attack Russian warships blockading Black Sea ports. According to major foreign media, the U.S. government is considering providing Ukraine with two types of missiles: Boeing's Harpoon missile and the Naval Strike Missile (NSM), jointly produced by Norway's Kongsberg and the U.S. company Raytheon.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.