War in Ukraine: Russia accused of causing a global food crisis
Sylvie Claire / March 30, 2022
Vladimir Putin has created this global food crisis, denounced the number two of the American diplomacy Wendy Sherman, at the UN Security Council.
It has drawn the wrath of the UN. Before the Security Council, Russia was accused on Tuesday of having caused a global food crisis and even of running the risk of famine by having unleashed a war against Ukraine, the breadbasket of Europe.
Russian President Vladimir Putin started this war. He created this global food crisis. And he is the one who can stop it, hammered the number two of the American diplomacy Wendy Sherman. Russia and President Putin bear sole responsibility for waging war on Ukraine and for the consequences of this war on global food security, insisted the assistant secretary of state.
The French ambassador to the UN, Nicolas de Rivière, added that Russia's aggression against Ukraine increases the risk of famine throughout the world.
Invited to the Security Council, the UN Deputy Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Joyce Msuya of Tanzania, warned that the conflict threatens to make matters worse for the world's biggest humanitarian crises, such as in Afghanistan, Yemen and the Horn of Africa. These countries are already struggling with food insecurity, fragile economies, rising food prices, fuel prices, fertilizer prices that are going to hit hard in the current and future seasons, she warned.
World Food Programme (WFP) Director David Beasley and Wendy Sherman recalled that Ukraine and Russia are major producers of grain, accounting for 30% of world wheat exports, 20% of world corn and 75% of sunflower oil. Some 50% of the grain we buy comes from Ukraine and we were feeding 125 million people before the war, said David Beasley, warning of the devastating impact the crisis will have on WFP operations.