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WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Russian intransigence at the United Nations following Moscow’s blocking of a humanitarian aid pipeline in Syria and termination of a wartime grain pact with Ukraine.
Blinken, who on Thursday chaired a debate on food security at the UN’s headquarters in New York, told member states that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has resulted in an “assault on the global food system."
Last month, Russia ended its participation in the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative that permitted safe passage of grain exports amid the Russian naval blockade of Ukrainian ports. For the past year, the maritime humanitarian corridor kept grain flowing to Middle East, African and Asian countries that are heavily dependent on food imports.
Dubbed the world’s breadbasket, Ukraine accounted for 10% of the wheat market, 15% of the corn market and 13% of the barley market before the war. Since the agreement was signed in July 2022 at Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace, nearly 33 million tons of Ukrainian grain and other goods have been exported through the northwestern Black Sea.
Russia announced it was quitting the international agreement on July 17, claiming the grain pact hadn’t met its “declared humanitarian goals.” Since then, grain prices have risen by more than 8% around the world, Blinken said.
“Every member of this council, every member of the United Nations should tell Moscow: enough. Enough using the Black Sea as blackmail,” Blinken told the 15-member body. "Enough treating the world’s most vulnerable people as leverage. Enough of this unjustified, unconscionable war.”
Kyiv has accused Moscow of intensifying its attacks on grain supplies and facilities in recent weeks. A Russian strike near the Danube River damaged nearly 40,000 tons of grain meant for Africa, China and Israel, Ukraine’s infrastructure minister said Wednesday.
Russia has given no indication it plans to revive the deal brokered by Turkey and the UN. In a Wednesday phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged to continue “intense diplomatic efforts” to salvage the deal, according to a Turkish readout of the call.
Blinken described Russia’s abandonment of the year-old grain deal as consistent with its decision last month to block the renewal of the UN’s cross-border aid operation in Syria.
Since 2014, the international aid pipeline has delivered food, fuel, medicine and other assistance to areas outside the control of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government. Russia, Assad’s veto-wielding member on the council, says the deal is a violation of Syrian sovereignty.
On July 11, Russia vetoed a compromise resolution to extend the UN mechanism by nine months. The United States, Britain and France then voted against what they described as an insufficient Russian proposal to renew the operation for six months.
The UN and the Syrian government are currently negotiating whether aid could be delivered in coordination with Damascus, a scenario experts have warned could lead to the government’s diversion of aid destined for rebel areas in northwest Syria.
“The United States is prepared to renew efforts to mandate this vital lifeline if the United Nations and Syria cannot find a way forward,” Blinken said.
