European Commission President: Russia is using food supplies as a weapon

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday that Russia is using food supplies as a weapon with global implications and is behaving in the same way it does in the energy sector.

During her speech at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, she said that "global cooperation is the antidote to Russia's blackmail."

"In Russia-occupied Ukraine, the Kremlin's army confiscates stocks of grain and machinery, and in the Black Sea, Russian warships surround Ukrainian ships carrying wheat and sunflower seeds," she added.

The European Union pledged to open "channels of solidarity" with Ukraine by using alternative logistical methods to help the country export grain.

Agriculture ministers from EU countries are meeting in Brussels today to discuss progress in launching these channels.

Russia's war on Ukraine and the West's attempt to isolate Moscow as a punishment drove up the prices of grain, cooking oil, fertilizer and energy.

The Kremlin said on Monday the West was to blame for the global food crisis by imposing the toughest sanctions in modern history on Russia over the war in Ukraine.

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