Senegal leader says Putin showed willingness to free up Ukrainian grain exports – Reuters

Senegal’s President Macky Sall said Russian President Vladimir Putin was willing to facilitate the export of Ukrainian grain to ease the global food crisis.

“President #Putin has expressed to us his willingness to facilitate the export of Ukrainian cereals,” Sall wrote on Twitter after meeting Putin in his role as chairman of the African Union.

Russia was also ready to ensure the export of its own wheat and fertilizer, Sall said after the talks in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on day 100 of Putin‘s invasion of Ukraine.

Sall did not say if Putin had attached any conditions to his offer. Russia has previously said it is ready to allow vessels carrying food to leave Ukraine in return for the lifting of some Western sanctions against it, a proposal that Ukraine has described as “blackmail”.

Sall told Putin that Africa is affected by the war in Ukraine, which has disrupted grain supplies. Russia has blamed Ukraine and the West for the resulting halt in Ukrainian grain exports.

Putin told Russian state TV that Ukraine could export grain from Odesa if it cleared the ports of mines. He said the easiest way to ship grain out of Ukraine was via Belarus, but that would require the West to lift sanctions on Belarus.

The growing crisis in Russia and Ukraine has sent prices of grains, cooking oils, fuel and fertilizer soaring.

Africa and the Middle East will be heavily impacted if the pressures, particularly, on grain do not ease.

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