US hampering global food market to hurt Russian interests, claims Kremlin

Amid the Moscow-Kyiv ruthless war in Eastern Europe, Russian Embassy in the United States asserted that the accusations of the US claiming Russia is impeding the flow of grain from Ukraine are 'baseless'. The embassy further said that these statements by the US are only an effort to alter the global food market by forcing Russia out of it.  

According to a statement from the embassy, "Our country is not hampering (grain) exports. It is the Ukrainian party that has mined the Black Sea waters ... We are regarding such statements as a sign of the intensified US efforts to reshape the global agricultural market by driving Russia out of food trade".  

The diplomatic mission even emphasised that the US is employing unilateral sanctions to sabotage supply chains and obstruct Russian commercial cooperation with other countries, Sputnik reported. The embassy also added, "As a result, the importers are facing significant difficulties with getting agricultural products".   

US accuses Putin of obstructing shipment of food

On June 27, the US State Department remarked that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been obstructing the shipment of food and "aggressively using his propaganda machine" to deny or embellish culpability. The US agency said in a tweet that the Kremlin leader is stopping food shipments from Ukraine and blaming other parties in an effort to persuade the rest of the world to "give in" to him. The department alleges that Putin wants to lift the sanctions put in place on Russia as a result of its military activity in Ukraine, as per media reports.  

Besides this, the Russian embassy in the US has also accused Washington of attempting to prolong the existing war with Ukraine "at any cost" with the latest assistance package. The embassy said in a statement that Washington was increasing the amount of security support going to the war-torn nation of Ukraine in order to make up for the deaths of Ukrainian patriots and soldiers. 

Shipment of Ukrainian food items across the Black Sea has advanced: UN chief

Meanwhile, according to the United Nations chief, the shipment of Ukrainian food items across the Black Sea has advanced significantly, despite the blockade of Ukrainian ports. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described it as a "ray of hope" and emphasised the need of taking this action to enable the secure export of Ukrainian agricultural goods. The importance of Turkey's position as a mediator between the two nations involved in a violent conflict since February 24 was emphasised by Guterres. 

Notably, a coordination centre would be established in Istanbul to expedite Ukrainian grain exports, according to Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, who also announced that Turkish, Ukrainian, Russian, and UN authorities have reached an agreement to do so. 

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