Putin addresses African leaders
He promises grain aid, sales
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Vladimir Putin told leaders and officials from most African countries Thursday that Russia is making every effort to avert a global food crisis despite concerns that its withdrawal from a deal allowing grain shipments from Ukraine will cause price spikes.
The Russian leader spoke at the opening session of a two-day Russia-Africa summit attended by a sharply lower number of African heads of state and government compared with a previous summit in 2019. While discussing the halted Black Sea grain deal, he promised large no-cost shipments of grain to six African countries.
“Our country will continue supporting needy states and regions, in particular, with its humanitarian deliveries. We seek to actively participate in building a fairer system of distribution of resources. We are taking maximum efforts to avert a global food crisis,” Putin said.
“I have already said that our country can replace Ukrainian grain, both on a commercial basis and as grant aid to the neediest African countries, more so since we expect another record harvest this year,” he said.
Russia intends to ship up to 50,000 tons of grain aid to Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, Eritrea and Central African Republic in the next three to four months, Putin said.
Without directly referring to Putin’s promise, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres took a swipe Thursday at donations of grain to developing nations, saying they cannot compensate for the impact of Moscow’s cutoff of grain exports from Ukraine, which along with Russia is a major supplier to the world market.
The U.N. chief said the United Nations is in contact with Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and other countries to try to reestablish the deal that saw Ukraine export over 32,000 tons of grain, allowing global food prices to drop significantly.
Guterres told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York that taking millions of tons of Ukrainian grain out of the global market will lead to higher prices. The higher costs “will be paid by everybody, everywhere, and namely by developing countries and by the vulnerable people in middle income and even developed countries,” he said.
“So, it’s not with a handful of donations to some countries that we correct this dramatic impact that affects everybody, everywhere,” Guterres added.
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric noted that Guterres pointed at Russia’s “systematic bombardment” of Ukrainian ports and grain facilities, which he called “a serious escalation.” Dujarric said the bombing will have a serious impact on any resumption of Ukrainian grain exports.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also said Russia’s promise to donate grain to African nations did not compensate for pulling out of the deal on Ukrainian grain.
“A handful of donations to some countries cannot replace the millions and millions of tons of grain exports that help stabilize food prices around the world,” Jean-Pierre said.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel noted the U.S. pays for about half of the budget for the World Food Program compared with Russia’s contribution of less than 1%. “So it’s pretty clear to us who is actively committed to addressing the dire concerns of food security,” Patel said.
Both Russia and Ukraine are major grain suppliers. They agreed a year ago on a U.N.and Turkey-brokered deal that reopened three Ukrainian Black Sea ports blocked by fighting and provided assurances that ships entering the ports would not be attacked. Russia declined to renew the agreement last week, complaining that its own exports were being held up.