As the EU seeks to maintain unity in the face of new sanctions on Russia, Borrell accuses Moscow of “causing world hunger”

Foreign Ministers of the European Union (EU) on Monday opened discussions in Luxembourg on a sixth package of sanctions against Russia, although it is increasingly difficult to reach a consensus and calls to protect the bloc's unity are multiplying.

“We have continued discussions on sanctions. But no decision has been taken on this day,” said the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, at the end of a meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg.

With regard to Ukraine, the priority now is military aid, he added. “Ukrainians fear a huge [Russian] offensive in the Donbas region. They get ready and we help them, that's not a secret,” he said.

Thus, the foreign ministers of the EU countries authorized a package of 500 million euros (about $540 million) to finance and deliver war equipment to Ukraine, in a decision that still needs to be ratified by a small group of countries.

This package is in addition to the €1 billion that had already been unlocked by the EU for the purchase of weapons and equipment for Ukrainian forces. “If it's not enough, we'll put more. At the moment we have those resources,” Borrell said.

The meeting of European foreign ministers, however, focused on the new sanctions against Russia, and on trying to reach a consensus on the possibility of blocking gas imports from Russia.

For his part, Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said that Russian President Vladimir Putin “will not stop, even if we stop buying Russian gas.”

Russia “causes hunger in the world”

Russia is responsible for an escalation of the global food crisis due to the war in Ukraine, especially for having bombed wheat stocks and preventing grain shipments from leaving, Borrell said.

“They are causing shortages. They are bombing Ukrainian cities and causing world hunger,” Borrell said at a press conference after meeting with foreign ministers.

The Spanish official warned that in addition to the fighting in Ukraine, “there is another battle: a narrative battle”.

In his vision, while Russia portrays EU sanctions as “responsible for food shortages and rising prices,” it is Russia that “caused world hunger by blocking ports, wheat and destroying wheat stocks in Ukraine.”

“Stop blaming sanctions. It is the Russian army that is causing food shortages,” he said.

Borrell made these statements after the UN Office for Food and Agriculture (FAO) warned last week that world food prices reached an all-time high in March, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, an agricultural power.

FAO noted that the interruption of exports as a result of the February 24 invasion, together with international sanctions on Russia, had increased fears of a global hunger crisis.

Concerns were particularly acute in the Middle East and Africa, where side effects were already taking place.

Russia and Ukraine have vast grain-producing regions that are among the world's leading granaries. Its crops account for a large share of world exports of several important commodities, including wheat, vegetable oil and corn.

Over the past three years, Russia accounted for about 30% of world exports of wheat and maize, and Ukraine accounted for 20%, according to FAO estimates.

The UN office also estimates that famine in West Africa and the Sahel regions - highly dependent on Russian and Ukrainian cereals - could worsen and affect more than 38 million people by June.

(With information from AFP)

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