According to a Western official, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken asked his Russian counterpart at the closed-door G20 talks in Bali to allow Moscow to ship grain from Ukraine.
“For our Russian colleagues, Ukraine is not your country and its grain is not your grain,” Blinken told Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after refusing to meet with him in private. Why are you closing ports? You must release the grain,” said a Western diplomat who was present.
Blinken told the Russian delegation about US financial assistance to address the global food shortage caused by the war in Ukraine, one of the world’s largest grain exporters.
“Russia is the source of the problem, and the United States is focused on solving it,” the Western official said.
The export of Ukrainian products was halted due to Moscow’s military offensive, which caused prices to rise, especially affecting poor countries.
