On Thursday 20 July, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, and several European foreign ministers publicly condemned the Russian bombing of the Odessa port infrastructure and grain storages. More than 60,000 tonnes of grain have already been destroyed, a few days after Russia refused to renew the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Moscow is also threatening to treat any ship sailing in the Black Sea as a military vessel, which could therefore be subject to Russian reprisals.
“This is a barbarian attitude”, warned Mr Borrell, describing the situation as “very serious”. Destruction of these grain storages “will create a huge food crisis in the world. If this grain is not only stopped but [also] destroyed, it means that there will be a shortage of food, of grain in the world”, he stressed, describing grains as “essential raw materials”.
For Mr Borrell, like the German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, is using hunger as a weapon.
According to Ms Baerbock, “the fact that Putin has terminated the grain agreement and is bombing the port of Odessa is not just a new aggression against Ukraine, but also an aggression against the people of the whole world”.
The Romanian minister, Luminița Odobescu, described the situation as “unacceptable”, saying that Moscow was trying to “provoke a world food crisis” while the Austrian minister, Alexander Schallenberg, said it was “a slap in the face to African countries and all others who depend on Ukrainian grain”.
Call for a response from the international community
The High Representative called for an international response. “We believe that the international community should react decisively to this deliberate attempt by Putin to starve the world’s populations in order to make more money or to wage an illegal war”, he stressed at the end of the Foreign Affairs Council of the EU. In his view, the destruction of Ukrainian stocks will enable Russia to make additional profits from the export of its own grains.
According to Ms Baerbock, the EU must work with its international partners to ensure that the grain does not rot in silos in Ukraine, but reaches those who need it most urgently. “It was important from the start to set up these [Solidarity] lanes in addition to the Black Sea agreement”, she explained.
Mr Borrell also called for an increase in Ukrainian grain exports via these Solidarity Lanes, if the sea route remains closed. “This means a greater effort on the part of Ukraine’s neighbours”, he acknowledged. On Wednesday 19 July, five of Ukraine’s neighbours asked for restrictions on Ukrainian grain imports to be extended (see EUROPE 13226/24). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with Léa Marchal)