Scandal in the Security Council: Russian ambassador leaves UN session

During a speech by EU Council President Michel, Russia’s UN Ambassador Nebensia left the UN Security Council. Michel had addressed Nebensja directly and accused the Kremlin, among other things, of stealing grain from Ukraine.

A meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in Ukraine was overshadowed by an uproar. When EU Council President Charles Michel blamed Russia directly for an impending global food crisis, the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebensya, demonstratively left the room. He left the Russian seat to another diplomat.

A few weeks ago, at the port of the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa, he saw millions of tons of grain and wheat stuck in containers and ships, Michel previously told Nebensya. The culprits are Russian warships in the Black Sea and Moscow’s attacks on transport infrastructure and grain storage facilities.

Russian tanks, bombs and mines also prevented cultivation and harvesting in Ukraine. “This drives up food prices, pushes people into poverty and destabilizes entire regions,” Michel said. “For this looming global food crisis, Russia alone is responsible. Russia alone.”

Grain theft allegations

Michel also accused Russian troops of stealing grain from occupied territories in Ukraine. At the same time, Moscow blames others. This is “cowardly” and “propaganda – pure and simple,” explained Michel. Nebensia got up and left.

His deputy, Dmitri Polyansky, wrote on Telegram that Michel’s comments were so “outrageous” that the Russian ambassador left the meeting room.

Guterres: Global hunger hits new high

As recently as May, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the extent of global hunger had reached a new high as a result of the Ukraine war. The number of people threatened by massive food insecurity has more than doubled within two years from 135 million before the corona pandemic to 276 million today.

Ukraine and Russia produce almost a third of the world’s wheat and barley and half of its sunflower oil. Russia and its ally Belarus are also the second and third largest producers of potash, a key ingredient in fertilizer.

EU Council President Michel said he supports Guterres’ efforts to reach a comprehensive deal that would allow both Ukrainian grain exports and unrestricted access to global markets for Russian food and fertilizer supplies.

Ukraine: Do not abuse trade route

Ukrainian Ambassador Serhiy Kyslytsia told the Security Council that his country remains committed to finding solutions to a global food crisis.

Ukraine is also ready to create the necessary conditions for a resumption of exports via the important port of Odessa. “The question is how to ensure that Russia does not abuse the trade route to attack the city itself,” Kyslytsia said.

This became all the more urgent when Russian missiles hit a plant in Kyiv on Sunday that was repairing grain wagons destined for Ukrainian ports. That means Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin’s fairy tales about his alleged willingness to facilitate Ukrainian wheat exports are very far from reality, Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN said.

Blinken raises further allegations

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Russia’s troops of dumping explosives on occupied farmland and hoarding Ukrainian food exports. This is Putin’s work, said Blinken at a virtual discussion with representatives of the private sector, which revolved around food safety and the Ukraine war.

The Russian president is “aggressively using his propaganda machine to deflect responsibility in the hope that the world will cave in to him and then lift sanctions,” Blinken added. “In other words, and simply put, this is blackmail.”