The cessation of Ukraine’s grain imports threatens the food supply of many Arab countries.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov praised Arab countries at the Arab League meeting in Cairo on Sunday, which, according to him, have treated the war in Ukraine “responsibly and equitably”.
According to Lavrov, Russia has been blamed completely unilaterally for the developing global food crisis.
“Just as if it started the day we started our special operations in Ukraine,” Lavrov said.
Russia calls its war of aggression in Ukraine a special military operation.
Several Arab countries, such as Egypt, the host country of the meeting, have not sided with either Ukraine or Russia in the Ukrainian war. However, the war has affected many member countries directly because they have imported a lot of grain from Ukraine.
Before the war in Ukraine, Ukraine and Russia together accounted for about 85 percent of Egypt’s grain imports.
Lavrov assured the Egyptian leadership in Cairo that Russia will handle its grain supply to the country in full.
Russia and Ukraine agreed last week that Ukrainian grain shipments in the Black Sea can continue. At the same time, it was agreed that Russian grain exports would be exempted from sanctions.
However, Russia attacked the port of Odessa just one day after an agreement on securing grain deliveries to the world via the Black Sea had been made in the negotiations between Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the UN in Istanbul. On Sunday, Russia admitted that it had struck the port, but not the parts intended for grain export, but the military targets.
From Egypt, Lavrov will travel to Uganda, Ethiopia and Congo, which are also heavily dependent on grain imports from Russia.
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