A Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Andrei Rudenko, on Wednesday proposed lifting sanctions against Russia against a resumption of grain trade in the Black Sea. “Solving the food problem requires a coordinated approach, involving in particular the lifting of sanctions which have been established against Russian exports and financial transactions,” said the senior Russian diplomat. From Davos, the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kouleba, denounced “manifest blackmail”.
Cereal markets are in fact under high tension. Ukraine, and its very fertile black soils, was before the offensive the world’s fourth exporter of corn and on the way to becoming the third exporter of wheat. But the conflict has upended Ukrainian agricultural production and exports. Russia is accused by kyiv and the West of preventing grain outflows via the Black Sea, the usual route for 70% of exports, particularly in the port of Odessa. This blockade raises the risk of a serious global food crisis, especially since the deficit of Russia, another agricultural power, whose production can only be sold with difficulty because of the sanctions, is added to this deficit. This lack of grain threatens many countries such as Egypt, Lebanon, Ethiopia or Yemen. The latter are therefore demanding corridors to allow exports and avoid possible shortages.
Moscow, on the other hand, unsurprisingly, gave a very bad reception to Lithuania’s proposal to create a “coalition” of naval powers to protect the sea lanes in the Black Sea. Such a device would seriously aggravate the situation in the Black Sea region,” senior Russian diplomat Andrei Roudenko warned.
On land, Russia continues its pressure on the Donbass and on Sievierodonetsk. “The Russian troops have advanced to be so close that they can fire mortars” on the city, said Serguiï Gaïdaï, the governor of the region. The city is also threatened by the South, while the forces of Moscow have managed to break through at Popasna and threaten to encircle several thousand Ukrainians. In the Kherson region, the Russian authorities will allow residents to apply for a Russian passport via “a simplified procedure”. Such a process was implemented in 2019 in the Luhansk and Donetsk areas.
