Russia Allegedly Steals Ukraine Grains To Use for Profit and Blackmail Scheme Against West To Lift Sanctions

Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Russia on Monday of exporting poverty by mining farmland in Ukraine, blocking Ukrainian food exports, and stealing grain to sell across the world as part of a scheme to blackmail the West into relaxing sanctions.

It comes after repeated warnings that the crisis in Ukraine was pushing up global food costs and threatening to destabilize Africa.

US: Russia Holds 20 Million Tons of Wheat

During a meeting with assistance agencies and private-sector groups, Blinken stated that 20 million tons of wheat were held in silos near the Ukrainian port of Odesa, with additional detained aboard ships that we were unable to sail due to Russian warships.

According to the UN, Russia and Ukraine contribute around 40% of the wheat consumed in Africa. Prices have already climbed by almost 23%. Drought has already caused 17 million people in the Horn of Africa to go hungry.

African nations have been cautioned by American authorities not to acquire Russian wheat that may have been stolen from Ukraine. It was added to Blinken's list of Russian atrocities. Ukraine has already accused Russia of transporting Ukrainian grain to Turkey and Syria.

The impact of Russian aggression on the global food supply has emerged as one of the most important issues in the conflict. It was mentioned during a United Nations Security Council meeting on Monday, according to Daily Mail.

Russian officials have attempted to concentrate attention on their own stifled food and fertilizer exports as a result of sweeping Western sanctions imposed on the country's economy following its invasion of Ukraine. Officials in the United States and Ukraine accuse Moscow of using the embargo as a kind of blackmail to obtain sanctions relief.

Africa's Food Crisis Deepend Amid Russia Blockade

Officials in the United States have also reported apparent proof of Russian ships ferrying stolen Ukrainian grain from ports under its control, notably the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. According to a US official, it is difficult to regard Russian promises in good faith given that they are actively and willfully destroying agricultural goods in Ukraine and worsening the global food crisis.

However, governments in other countries are more sympathetic to Russia's perspective. Senegalese President Macky Sall, who is also the African Union head, met with Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday. Sall criticized how African nations, although being distant from the theater, are economic victims of the crisis.

Africa imported 44 percent of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine between 2018 and 2020. Wheat prices have surged by 45 percent since the recent interruptions, according to the African Development Bank. At the United Nations General Assembly, a majority of African countries voted to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine. However, in an era of escalating economic turmoil, it matters less to countries remote from the war how their food is delivered and who is sending it, The Washington Post via MSN reported.

Russia is presently enforcing an embargo on Ukraine's port of Odesa, causing a grain backlog. The talks come as Putin appears to have ordered an escalation in the conflict in Ukraine, with missiles hitting Kyiv for the first time in more than a month on Sunday.

Putin vowed to attack new sites after the United States handed powerful rocket systems to Ukraine in its latest round of military supplies last week. Last Monday, President Joe Biden authorized an extra $700 million in military aid to Ukraine.

The package comprised everything from rocket systems to vehicle and equipment replacement components. The most significant weaponry was the Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, which Putin described as a US escalation. The plan merely contributed to the $4.6 billion in security aid previously provided to Ukraine by the US under President Biden's administration, as per Fox News.

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