Putin offers help to overcome food crisis provided sanctions are lifted

The world is facing a severe food crisis that will have enormous humanitarian consequences. This is the alarming conclusion reached by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi after his telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Draghi aimed to address the food crisis and the grain blockade in Ukraine. "I felt it was my duty to take (this initiative) because of the seriousness of the humanitarian crisis that can affect the world's poorest people," the Italian leader said, adding that he would also discuss the dramatic situation with Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky.

The prime minister hopes to be able to reach an agreement soon between Moscow and Kiev to unblock the grain warehouses in the Black Sea ports "because the looming food crisis is already present in some African countries", as Draghi indicated.

In North African countries, for example Egypt - the world's largest importer of wheat - this crisis is already being felt in supermarkets and in people's pockets. In fact, Egypt's Finance Minister, Mohamed Maait, warned in an interview with the British newspaper Financial Times that rising food prices could kill "millions" of people around the world. In addition to increases in foodstuffs such as cereals and cooking oils, the war is also causing fuel prices to rise and fertiliser shortages. 

However, Draghi said he felt that the Russian side "is ready" to move in the right direction, so he expects Zelensky to have "a similar willingness". On the war, however, he acknowledged that he "does not see any glimmer of hope for peace".

Draghi's call is part of Rome's efforts to end the war, which is now entering its 93rd day. In addition to talks with Putin to alleviate the effects of the food crisis, Italy last week submitted a peace plan for Ukraine to the United Nations. However, the proposal - which calls for the disputed territories to be placed under Ukrainian sovereignty - has not been well received in Moscow. Kiev, for its part, has asserted that the plan must be based on 'Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity'.

Putin has responded to Draghi's request by stating that "ports are mined to prevent Russian ships from attacking Ukraine", according to the Italian prime minister. The Russian president also pointed out that lifting the blockade of cereals in Ukraine would not be "enough to solve the food crisis". In this sense, Putin stressed to Draghi that the situation the world is facing is "the fault of the sanctions", which is why, if they were lifted, "Russia would be able to export grain".

In a statement following the call, Moscow reiterated its offer. "Vladimir Putin emphasised that Russia is ready to make a significant contribution to overcoming the food crisis through the export of grain and fertilisers, provided that the politically motivated restrictions of the West are lifted," the Kremlin statement quoted by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti remarked. 

The Russian presidency also stressed that "measures taken to ensure the safety of navigation, including the daily opening of humanitarian corridors for the departure of civilian ships from ports in the Azov and Black Seas, are being obstructed by the Ukrainian side". Moscow blames Ukraine for blocking and undermining the ports, preventing the safe departure of ships. "Kiev is preventing in every possible way cooperation regarding the safe departure of ships from the Black Sea," Russian UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzia stressed. The diplomat has accused the Ukrainian authorities of preventing 75 ships from 17 different countries from leaving their ports.

Mikhail Mizintsev, head of Russia's National Defence Monitoring Centre, has even branded Western countries as "hypocrites", since, according to Mizintsev, once they get the grain out of Ukraine "they will not care at all what happens in the country after the warehouses are emptied" in the rest of the country. Mizintsev also accuses Kiev of doing anything to please the West, a "collective hypocrite", ignoring "the welfare of its people". 

For these reasons, Putin has dismissed as "unfounded" accusations that Russia is largely to blame for problems with food supplies on the world market.

Western countries have denied Russia's statements and have ruled out giving in to Moscow's demands. The US has stressed that the dramatic situation "is Russia's doing", as the sanctions "do not prevent the export of Ukrainian or Russian agricultural products, including food and fertilisers", White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby also accused Russia of "using food as a weapon". In a similar vein, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss accused Putin of "blackmailing the world" and "using hunger and lack of food among the poorest as a weapon". London, like Washington, has ruled out lifting sanctions against Moscow.

Satellite images have shown Russian ships in the Crimean port of Sevastopol loading what is believed to be stolen Ukrainian grain. As CNN reports, the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014 produces little wheat due to lack of irrigation, but Ukrainian regions to the north such as Kherson and Zaporiyia, occupied by Russian forces since early March, produce millions of tonnes of grain each year.

The Ukrainian authorities have previously accused Russia of this. The Kiev government has claimed that thousands of tonnes are transported from the occupied territories to Crimea. Predictably, the Kremlin has denied such accusations, dismissing the claims as 'fake news'. 

According to Ukrainian intelligence, the grain is most likely being transported to Syria. Satellite images show Russian ships sailing in the Mediterranean. "The most likely destination of the cargo is Syria. The grain may be smuggled from there to other countries in the Middle East," explained an official quoted by CNN.

Separately, one of the vessels, the Matros Pozynich, was intended to arrive in the Egyptian port of Alexandria, but then changed course for Syria, according to the marine vessel tracking website FleetMon. According to a similar website, VesselFinder, the Matros Pozynich has also been located between the waters off Crete and Cyprus. 

Ukraine's ambassador to Turkey, Vasyl Bodnar, has also pointed to the Syrian ship Finikia, owned by the Syriamar company, linked to President Bashar Al-Asad and an important Putin ally, as one of the vessels that has transported stolen Ukrainian grain. The Ukrainian diplomat has therefore called on Ankara to ban Ukrainian grain cargoes from crossing the Bosphorus Strait, reports The Maritime Executive.

On Twitter, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has called on all countries to reject the stolen material. "Don't be complicit in Russian crimes," he urged. 

This war mutiny reminds Ukraine of one of the harshest stages of its history: the Holodomor, the genocide against the Ukrainian people. Between 1932 and 1934, Iosif Stalin planned a famine that starved to death around 4 million people. Therefore, as the head of the Luhansk Regional Administration, Serhiy Hayday, warned CNN, "the Russians' goal is another Holodomor".