On Saturday, in his nightly address to the nation, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to suggest that Russia’s decision to renege on its agreement to allow grain shipments from Odesa has been planned since September, rather than being a response to an attack on one of its warships recently.
Elsewhere it has been suggested that in any case, the event may have been the latest in a series of “false flag” incidents in which Russia seeks to apportion blame on an innocent party in order to “justify” a “retaliation.”
“Russia began deliberately aggravating the food crisis back in September, when it blocked the movement of ships with our food.
“From September to today, 176 vessels have already accumulated in the grain corridor, which cannot follow their route. Some grain carriers have been waiting for more than three weeks. This is an absolutely deliberate blockade by Russia. This is an absolutely transparent intention of Russia to return the threat of large-scale famine to Africa and Asia.
“Literally today, more than 2 million tonnes of food are in the sea. This means that access to food has actually worsened for more than 7 million consumers.
“Algeria, Egypt, Yemen, Bangladesh, Vietnam, others countries – very different countries, from different parts of the world… But they can all be equally destabilized by this Russian decision to block exports.
“I emphasize: this decision was made by Russia apparently in September. Only this queue of ships with food at sea can testify to this.
It is also important that Russia attacked our Naval Forces at least twice during the grain initiative. Precisely by those forces that guarantee the safety of the grain corridor.
“A strong international response is needed now. Both at the UN level and at other levels. In particular, at the level of the G20.
“How can Russia be among the G20 if it is deliberately working for starvation on several continents? This is nonsense. Russia has no place in the G20.
“All partners see this artificial queue of vessels. They see what Russia did to disrupt the grain initiative. They see that even ships with grain, which are contracted within the framework of the UN Food Program for the poorest countries, do not get a guaranteed opportunity to pass through the sea route.
“Russia is doing everything to ensure that millions of Africans, millions of residents of the Middle East and South Asia find themselves in conditions of artificial famine or at least a severe price crisis.
“But why a handful of people somewhere in the Kremlin can decide whether people in Egypt or Bangladesh will have food on their tables? What is it? The world has the power to protect people against this.
“Ukraine has been and can continue to be one of the guarantors of global food security.
“Russian terror and blackmail must lose. Humanity must win.”
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