Mr Justin Addison (UK delegation to the OSCE) calls on President
Putin to allow the re-opening of the ports at Odesa in Ukraine
and allow food to flow freely.
OSCE Economic and Environmental Committee on “The Benefits of
Scientific and Technological Co-operation in Promoting
Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security”
Last week, the UN Secretary General’s Global
Crisis Response Group’s report confirmed an unprecedented
crisis. It is now a crisis of lack of access to available food,
but in six to twelve months’ time it may well turn into the first
global food availability disaster in over 70 years, because of
factors including Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The UN estimates that up to 25 million tonnes of grain destined
for export remains in storage in Ukraine, with its Black Sea
ports blocked and road and rail capacity severely limited.
The World Food Programme has made repeated calls for Russia to
allow the re-opening of the ports at Odesa and allow food to flow
freely. But they won’t.
Responsible not only for the deaths of thousands of Ukrainians
and suffocating a vibrant economy, President Putin, through his
war of choice and territorial ambition, is choosing to level
misery and starvation on millions of vulnerable people around the
world. Putin cannot be allowed to hold the world’s food supply to
ransom, in an attempt to secure the lifting of sanctions that are
critical to stopping his brutal war on the innocent people of
Ukraine.
Reports from places like Bucha and Irpin revealed evidence that
soldiers in the Russian army committed war crimes. We now know
that soldiers in the Russian Army are also common thieves – as we
heard earlier, there are multiple reports describing how Russia
is stealing thousands of tonnes of grain in
temporarily-Russian-controlled areas and destroying silos and
agricultural equipment.
The UK, working with international partners, is determined to
support countries to mitigate the impact on their economies and
their people of rising food prices due to Russia’s imperialistic
aggression, including by helping Ukraine export its food and play
its role as the breadbasket of the world. We are calling on all
countries, including in the WTO, to keep food trade flowing. Our
sanctions against Russia do not target exports of food supplies
for developing countries.
Mr Chair, the situation needs a coherent international response.
We must avoid competing initiatives that dilute the collective
impact. In this regard, we are fully committed to the US Call to
Action and Germany’s G7 Global
Alliance as ways to achieve this. We must stand united
against Putin’s actions, and with the people of Ukraine who are
so bravely standing firm in defence of their own sovereignty.
