Russia downplays role of Ukraine conflict in food crisis

• Russia and Ukraine produce 30 percent of the global wheat supply.
• The current situation with Ukrainian grain has nothing to do with the food crisis.
• Russia and Ukraine produce 30 percent of the global wheat supply.

Russia denied on Wednesday that grain stranded in Ukrainian ports was fueling a global food crisis, as Moscow pressed ahead with its military offensive.

Moscow’s campaign in the pro-Western country has not only destroyed crops and farming but has also disrupted critical deliveries from Ukraine, one of the world’s main grain producers, fueling global concern about hunger and food prices.

“As far as we know, there is much less grain than the Ukrainians say. There is no need to exaggerate the importance of these grain reserves,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“This is too small a percentage to have an impact on the development of the food crisis that has already begun. It was not the Ukrainian crisis that caused or sped up the food crisis in the world,” he said.

Read more: Russia-US political dialogue at an unheard-of low level, Anatoly Antonov

“The Ukrainian side must say what they need, whether they want to send this grain somewhere at all,” Peskov added.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was in Ankara for talks to create a security corridor to ship grain from Ukraine, struck a similar note.

“The current situation with Ukrainian grain has nothing to do with the food crisis,” Lavrov added.

Russia and Ukraine produce 30 percent of the global wheat supply.

Russia has repeatedly denied blocking cargo ships carrying Ukrainian grain, instead of blaming Western sanctions on Moscow for contributing to the food crisis.

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, approximately 20-25 million tonnes of grain are currently blocked in Ukrainian ports, with the figure expected to rise to 70-75 million tonnes by the autumn.

Read more: Ukrainian ports are ready to import grain, according to Russia, but Kyiv must demine the coast