A war with international consequences.
A senior Russian diplomat on Wednesday called for the lifting of sanctions against Moscow as a condition to avert the global food crisis looming as a result of its offensive in Ukraine.
In response, kyiv meanwhile called for “killing off Russian exports” to end the war.
Ukraine, a major cereal exporter, is seeing its production blocked due to the fighting, and that of Russia, another cereal power, cannot be sold because of sanctions affecting the financial and logistics sectors.
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"Solving the food problem requires a coordinated approach, including the lifting of sanctions that have been introduced against Russian exports and financial transactions," Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Roudenko was quoted by news agencies as saying. Russians.
Moscow calls for a "demining" of the Black Sea
He also demanded "the demining by Kyiv" of the Black Sea ports so that the ships could export the grain.
To this end, the diplomat affirmed that Russia was “ready to ensure a humanitarian corridor” for the boats.
At the Davos economic forum, the head of Ukrainian diplomacy Dmytro Kouleba meanwhile called on the international community to “kill Russian exports, with the exception of certain critical products that the world needs”.
He believes that Moscow should stop “making money and investing it in a war machine that kills, rapes and tortures Ukrainians”.
He also called on maritime carriers to stop transporting Russian oil, and denounced the "manifest blackmail" of Russians after their request for the lifting of economic sanctions.
Renowned for its very fertile land, Ukraine was before the offensive the world's fourth largest corn exporter and on the way to becoming the third largest wheat exporter.
Read alsoSoaring prices, shortages of wheat: the war in Ukraine threatens world food security
But the conflict has disrupted Ukrainian agricultural production and Russia is accused by kyiv and the West of preventing grain exports via the Black Sea, particularly in the major port of Odessa, raising the risk of a serious global food crisis. .
Limited fertilizer exports
Exports of cereals and fertilizers produced in Russia, another major agricultural power, have also been severely disrupted by Western sanctions, which increase the threat of shortages.
Moscow has also been accused of having stolen stocks of Ukrainian cereals in the areas conquered by its army.
“I strongly deny that.
We are not stealing from anyone,” Andrei Roudenko said on Wednesday.
The Russian diplomat also reacted to Lithuania's proposal, made on Tuesday, to create a "coalition" of naval powers to protect the Black Sea sea lanes and unblock grain exports from Ukraine.
Such a device “would seriously aggravate the situation in the Black Sea region”, warned Andrei Roudenko.