Would the best defense be the attack?
Moscow has just adopted this strategy concerning grain exports from Ukraine, which remain partly blocked in the ports of the Black Sea.
A situation that threatens to see the birth of a global food crisis, with a risk of famine in developing countries.
"We categorically reject these accusations and conversely accuse Western countries of having taken a series of illegal measures that led to this blockade," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.
According to him, Western countries "must cancel these illegal decisions which hinder the freight of ships, which hinder the export of grain", he continued in reference to Western sanctions against Moscow.
Ukraine, a major exporter of cereals, particularly corn and wheat, is seeing its production blocked due to the fighting.
About 20 million tons of grain that was to be delivered before the end of July in several countries are blocked in ports in Ukraine.
Western sanctions affecting the financial and logistics sectors
However, according to the West, Russia prevents any export by blocking the ports in the Black Sea, but would also loot part of the Ukrainian goods to resell them abroad, as Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president affirms. .
At the same time, Russia, another cereal power, cannot sell its production and its fertilizers because of Western sanctions affecting the financial and logistics sectors.
On Wednesday, a senior Russian diplomat, Andrei Roudenko, said that the resolution of the crisis would require the lifting of sanctions against Moscow and "the demining by Kyiv of the Black Sea ports".
According to him, Moscow would then be ready to ensure humanitarian corridors so that ships can export.
In the meantime, there is urgency: “Millions of people around the world will die because the ports are blocked,” David Beasley, executive director of the United Nations World Food Program, said last week.
According to him, Ukrainian ports must resume activity within the next sixty days to avoid a global crisis.
Cereals exported by train
Beyond blaming one or the other, Turkey and the UN are working on a solution.
“We are working to create safe conduct for Ukrainian ships carrying grain,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.
Russian diplomacy would be ready to ease the blockade in exchange for an easing of sanctions.
Even if such an agreement materializes, the export distribution of cereals risks being disrupted for several months.
In this part, the Black Sea looks like a minefield and the clearance operations to be able to let the boats pass safely will take time.
In the meantime, Ukraine still manages to export cereals but via trains despite the risk of bombardment of these convoys and in quantities that are far below the needs of the poorest countries.