YELLEN CALLS ON G20 TO BOOST AID FOR FOOD INSECURITY, OFFERS DEBT FREEZE

WASHINGTON - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged Group of 20 finance and agriculture ministers on Tuesday to take urgent steps to help the 70 million people at risk of acute food insecurity as a result of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

Yellen told the inaugural meeting of G20 joint finance and agriculture ministers that Putin and his officials - including those taking part in meetings in Washington this week - were responsible for “immense human suffering” caused by the war, a Treasury official said.

“That includes the innocent lives taken by President Putin’s barbaric missile attacks across

Ukraine yesterday,” she said, referring to the most widespread wave of air strikes to hit away from the front line since the start of the war on February 24.

Russia says it is waging a “special military operation” in Ukraine to rid it of nationalists and protect Russian-speaking communities. Ukraine and the West say it is an unprovoked war of aggression.

Yellen said Russia’s blockade of ports and destruction of agricultural infrastructure had disrupted global supply chains and food production, with the impact felt particularly in developing countries that Russia “falsely claims to support.”

She stressed that U.S. sanctions on Russia do not target the production, manufacture, sale, or transport of agricultural commodities, including fertiliser, and urged G20 officials to ensure their industries knew that sanctions should not impede the flow of agricultural commodities to those who need them.