Russia’s comments about suspending its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative are regrettable. This life-saving agreement between Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey, brokered in July by the United Nations, has allowed the export of more than nine million metric tons of grain and other food products to populations around the world in the midst of a devastating global food crisis.
In just a few months, the initiative has already proven a tremendous success – bringing down global food prices, and providing relief for communities most vulnerable to severe hunger. Nearly half of Ukraine’s wheat exports through the Black Sea have gone to lower income countries, amounting to enough wheat for nearly three billion loaves of bread.
The United States and our allies and partners remain clear: the Black Sea Grain Initiative must continue and be extended. Any attempt to undermine the agreement is an attack on hungry families around the world whose lives and livelihoods are dependent on this initiative.
Millions of people around the world are on the brink of starvation. Putin’s senseless and brutal war in Ukraine has caused tremendous global suffering, and the world cannot afford for Putin to continue to use food as a weapon of war.
The Russian Federation should continue its participation in the agreement and halt its unprovoked and brutal war against Ukraine.