Pope Francis has pleaded to authorities to lift a block on exports of wheat from Ukraine, saying grain cannot be used as a “weapon of war”.
Speaking to thousands who gathered in St, Peter’s Square on Wednesday, the pope said the wheat block is “very worrying” for the millions of people who depend on it, especially in poorer countries.
“I make a heartfelt appeal so that every effort is made to resolve this problem, to guarantee the universal right to nutrition.
“Please! Do not use wheat, a basic foodstuff, as a weapon of war,” he said to applause from the crowd.
Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies, while Russia is also a key fertiliser exporter and Ukraine is a major exporter of corn and sunflower oil.
The war in Ukraine has fuelled a global food crisis with prices for grains, cooking oils, fuel and fertiliser soaring, with the West criticising Russia for causing dire global food shortages.
But the Kremlin have blamed “illegal restrictions” imposed on Russia by Western countries and decisions by Ukrainian authorities for the impending major “food crisis”.
Ukraine is one of the major exporters of wheat in the world.
“We are potentially on the verge of a very deep food crisis linked to the introduction of illegal restrictions against us and the actions of Ukrainian authorities who have mined the path to the Black Sea and are not shipping grain from there despite Russia not impeding in any way,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.
The United Nations is trying to broker a deal to unblock Ukraine’s grain exports.
A senior UN official had “constructive discussions” in Moscow with Russian first deputy prime minister Andrei Belousov on facilitating Russian grain and fertiliser exports to global markets, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday.
The official, Rebecca Grynspan, is now in Washington for talks on the same issue “with the key aim of addressing growing global food insecurity,” Mr Dujarric said.
Meanwhile, Turkey said they are in talks with Russia to establish a safe corridor via Istanbul for the blocked Ukraine grain exports, with Moscow’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov set to visit Turkey on June 8.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency’s editors in a televised roundtable, Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he will facilitate talks with his Russian counterpart “on the issue of opening a security corridor that also includes (shipping) of wheat in the Black Sea”.
He said: “We are planning to establish a centre in Istanbul to observe the corridor,” and added that Mr Lavrov will be joined by a military delegation.
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