Western powers and Russia clash at the UN after the end of the Black Sea agreement

Western powers and Russia staged this Monday a new clash in the Security Council of the UNthis time after Moscow’s decision to put an end to the Black Sea agreement that facilitated the exports of cereal ukrainian.

The Kremlin’s movement focused attention on a meeting in New York attended by numerous foreign ministers, including the British James Cleverly, the French Catherine Colonna or the German Annalena Baerbock.

All of them harshly criticized the suspension of the so-called grain agreement and demanded that Moscow return to the negotiating table, given the impact that its decision will have on global food security.

“Let’s be clear, Russia’s actions are taking food out of the mouths of the poorest people in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America”Cleverly stressed.

The head of French diplomacy, meanwhile, spoke of “blackmail” on the Russian side and said that the European Union is going to seek to expand the outlet of Ukrainian agricultural products by other means.

Also participating in the meeting was the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmitro Kuleba, who accused Russia of putting global food security at risk and said that his country is already studying options to continue exporting grain to international markets.

For his part, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, criticized the operation of the Black Sea initiative – he insisted on the idea that most of the grain has not gone to the most needy countries – and left Of course, Moscow will not return to it if its demands on the facilities for its own exports are not met.

“Russia will only consider its resumption when concrete results are achieved instead of promises”he insisted.

In this regard, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, today defended the progress that has been made in this area and was “deeply disappointed” that Russian President Vladimir Putin ignored his proposals to try to improve the situation and keep the deal alive.

More than 500 days of war

Although the Black Sea agreement occupied a good part of the meeting, it was planned as a broader review of the war in Ukraine after more than 500 days since the start of the Russian invasion.

The UN chief of Political Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, warned that in addition to enormous suffering and destruction, the conflict is creating an increasingly dangerous world, with rising tensions and the risk of a global arms race.

“The longer this war lasts, the more dangerous its consequences will be, including the possibility of a broader conflict. For the sake of Ukrainians and our global community, this senseless and unjustified war must stop.”DiCarlo insisted.

Western countries insisted that the end of the conflict involves the withdrawal of Russia, which they accused of having no interest in a just and lasting peace.

For its part, Moscow accused precisely those nations of having first pushed into conflict and then of having torpedoed a possible peace agreement.

Source: EFE