Germany’s Foreign Minister: putin is using hunger to demand loyalty

russia and its president are striking far beyond Ukraine and at the poorest people with their war.

This was stated by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock before a food crisis meeting in New York, Ukrinform reports.

According to her, the russian war of aggression has brought untold suffering to millions of people in Ukraine but is also causing great damage far beyond Ukraine.

Unsown Ukrainian fields and destroyed granaries, bombed-out transport routes, and blockaded ports are the reason why the world market cannot be provided with urgently needed grain, the diplomat said.

"As a result of the russian war, prices for wheat, corn, and cooking oil have risen sharply around the world. President putin is hitting the world's poorest hard. It is hitting children, women, and men who are already suffering from drought, the climate crisis, and the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and who need help. russia is not only cynical about the famine crisis in the global South, but it is also using hunger as a weapon to demand loyalty," said the German Foreign Minister.

She noted that the West opposed this with its solidarity. It helps where help is needed, not because it is on the political agenda.

In this way, the West supports the international order, which russia is brutally attacking. In this way, it protects human lives, which russia is willing to risk, the politician stressed.

She stressed the importance of everyone acting now as a global community, quickly, through concerted action and concrete steps.

Germany, as chair of the G7, has made food security the basis for joint work, Baerbock said. She said the group had agreed on specific commitments to alleviate the food crisis.

On Thursday, German Development Minister Svenja Schulze will launch the Alliance for Global Food Security at the G7 meeting in Berlin. Germany is also participating in a working group led by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to resolve the crisis.

"In the circle of the world community and the G7, we will do everything that is important now: both in the short term, supporting Ukraine and providing humanitarian aid around the world. But also in the long run, by combating the climate crisis and drought, supporting sustainable development in the poorest parts of the world," Baerbock said.

About 35 states are gathering at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday at the invitation of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, including those whose populations have suffered the most from the blockade of Ukrainian ports.