Transcript
DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR COLEMAN: [Russia] pulled out because we seem to be doing our very best to declare war on global food security. But I personally always remain hopeful that Russia – Putin will come to his senses, and be back into the Black Sea Grain Initiative, because it's a deal that is good for the entire world. And so many people have urged – so many world leaders have urged Putin to go back into the deal. From the Pope to the Secretary-General to African heads of state. Ramaphosa from South Africa and for many, many years, who urged Russia to go back into this deal because it's a deal for the entire world. Ukraine is one of the world's great bread baskets, it was exporting as much as 15 percent of some incredibly important global commodities, wheat and corn, prior to Russia's further invasion of Ukraine.
[Narration in Ukrainian]
Russia, last year and this year, is on track for record exports on both its grains and its fertilizer. So what are the problems that it’s experiencing? That they can achieve the record exports of both agricultural products and its fertilizer. The claims that they are making, that the deal hindered exports, are simply false. It's a lie. It's a false narrative, filled with lies. And too many people around the world are not looking at the face of facts. Look at how many millions, tens of millions in metric tons of grain that Russia is exporting, it's a record for them. And they're taking that market share away from Ukraine. And at the same time, they are bumping up global food prices by pulling out the Black Sea Grain Initiative. We have seen global food prices, after a long decline for many months, because of the deal, now they have increased again. And that's to Russia's benefit as one of the largest exporters.
[Narration in Ukrainian]
From day one, of the Black Sea being blocked back in early last year, USAID has been working on this, and of course, we're not alone. We work with our European colleagues, we're working with the World Bank, and others to address some of the export concerns in the country. And when we spoke a year ago, about three million tons a year was going out through the Danube river ports, and today, it's more than three million metric tons a month. So you have seen an incredible increase in capacity from those daily reports. We've also seen Ukraine be able export some of its grains through the solidarity lanes into northern Europe. So these things have helped, and we continue to make investments and easing the transportation from Ukraine through these different routes.
[Narration in Ukrainian]
Secretary Blinken is exactly right. The point he's making is that food and fertilizer are not sanctioned. They never have been. And so if companies are reluctant to do business in Russia, I think that's a real question. The fact that Russia has invaded – unprovoked – its neighboring country, and some companies choose not to do business with Russia. Now, if they feel that the [inaudible] to make sure that they know that they are not under these heavy sanctions would help, fine, they can get that because food and fertilizer are not sanctioned by the United States. But again, I come back to what is the real reason they left the Black Sea Grain Initiative, because they have had record exports of both food and fertilizer? So what are the challenges that they're facing? It doesn't appear that they have real export challenges of getting record amounts last year and this year.
[Narration in Ukrainian]
Of course, there are some loud voices in the United States that question our support for Ukraine, but what I can assure you is that there is very strong bipartisan support for Ukraine. Just recently in Congress, we saw a number of pieces of legislation come up to reduce our funding, or to reduce our military support. And Republicans and Democrats joined together to soundly defeat those pieces of legislation. So, I think you see, of course, some loud voices being critical, but at the same time you see this very strong sustained support. Polls show that American support from the general population to Ukraine has remained strong. And people are truly inspired by what Ukrainians have achieved, the people who thought it was impossible. And yet, here we are more than a year and a half into this and Russia has not only not succeeded, but in so many years seems to be [inaudible] and I think it's inspiring to the American people. I think the support is there. We of course have to constantly remind Americans why it's important, why it matters to them, for them and their own security in their own futures. But I do believe that the support is strong and consistent.