Europe accuses Russia of 'starving the world'

On Monday, the European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, blamed Russia for exacerbating the food crisis in the world through its war on Ukraine, especially by bombing wheat stores and preventing ships from transporting grain abroad.

Borrell said in a press conference after presiding over a meeting of European Union foreign ministers, that the Russians "are causing (food) shortages. They bomb Ukrainian cities and cause hunger in the world. They are causing hunger in our world."

He added that the Russian army "plants bombs in the Ukrainian fields, while Russian warships surrounded dozens of ships loaded with wheat."

"They are bombing and destroying wheat stores and preventing the export of this wheat," he added.

In addition to the fierce battles raging on the ground in Ukraine, Borrell warned, "there is another battle: the battle of discourse."

He believed that while Moscow seeks to portray Western sanctions as "responsible for the scarcity of food commodities and the rise in prices", Russia is "causing hunger in the world by besieging ports, wheat, and destroying wheat stores in Ukraine."

"Stop blaming the sanctions," he said, adding, "It is the Russian army that causes food scarcity."

Borrell's comments come after the United Nations warned last week that food prices reached an all-time high in March in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a major producer of agricultural crops.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said that the disruption of exports against the backdrop of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, coupled with Western sanctions against Russia, has raised fears of a global hunger crisis.

The concerns are great, especially in the Middle East and Africa.

As a result of the conflict in Ukraine, FAO has warned that famine could worsen in the Sahel and West Africa, regions that depend heavily on grain imports from Russia and Ukraine, to affect 38.3 million people by June, unless appropriate measures are taken.

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