Ukraine conflict: EU blames Russia for food crisis prompting walkout at UN Security Council meeting

Russia's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia stormed out of the United Nations Security Council meeting after the EU accused Russia of using food supplies as “a stealth missile against developing countries” and blamed the Kremlin for the looming global food crisis.

European Council president Charles Michel addressed Mr Nebenzia directly at the council meeting, saying he saw millions of tonnes of grain and wheat stuck in containers and ships at the Ukrainian port of Odessa a few weeks ago.

That was “because of Russian warships in the Black Sea”, Mr Michel said, and Moscow’s attacks on transport infrastructure and grain storage facilities, and its tanks, bombs and mines that are preventing Ukraine from planting and harvesting.

“This is driving up food prices, pushing people into poverty, and destabilising entire regions,” Mr Michel said.

“Russia is solely responsible for this looming food crisis – Russia alone.”

He also accused Russian forces of stealing grain from areas it has occupied “while shifting the blame of others”, calling this “cowardly” and “propaganda, pure and simple”.

Mr Nebenzia walked out during the briefing, giving Russia’s seat to another diplomat.

lexey Dronov, Consul General of the Russian Federation in Bonn attends with his colleagues the opening day of the UNFCCC's SB56 climate conference on June 06, 2022 in Bonn, Germany. The June 6-16 conference is in preparation for the UN Climate Change Conference COP27 in in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, which is scheduled to take place in November this year. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky tweeted later on Telegram’s Russian channel that Mr Michel’s comments were “so rude” the Russian ambassador left the Security Council chamber.

The Security Council meeting was supposed to focus on sexual violence during the war in Ukraine, but Russia’s invasion and the consequences, especially on global food shortages and rising prices, were also raised.

Mr Michel gave strong backing to efforts by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to get a package agreement that would allow grain exports from Ukraine and ensure Russian food and fertiliser have unrestricted access to global markets.

Ukraine and Russia together produce almost a third of the world’s wheat and barley and half of its sunflower oil. Russia and its ally Belarus are the world’s number two and three producers respectively of potash, a key ingredient of fertiliser.

Mr Guterres warned last month that global hunger levels “are at a new high”, with the number of people facing severe food insecurity doubling in just two years from 135 million before the Covid-19 pandemic to 276 million. He said more than 500,000 people were living in famine conditions – an increase of more than 500 per cent since 2016.

Ukraine’s UN ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told the Security Council on Monday his country remained committed to finding solutions to prevent the global food crisis.

“The question is how to make sure that Russia does not abuse the trade route to attack the city itself,” he said.

“It means all [Vladimir] Putin’s fairy tales about his readiness to facilitate Ukrainian wheat export that he so eloquently tells his rare interlocutors remain too far removed from reality.”

Nonetheless, Mr Kyslytsya said “we continue our work with the UN and partners to ensure the functioning of the maritime rules for the expert for Ukrainian agricultural products”.

“As a first step,” he said, “Russia must withdraw its naval forces in the maritime waters around Ukraine and provide security guarantees against attacks in ports.”