Italy's Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio defended this Saturday (4) the need to end “the world bread war“, referring to the grain blocked by Russia in Ukrainian ports.
“The global bread war is already underway and we must stop it. We run the risk of political instability in Africa, the proliferation of terrorist organizations, coups d'état: this could produce the grain crisis that we are experiencing”, said the Italian Chancellor.
According to Di Maio, Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to negotiate, “he must come to the table, reach a peace agreement as quickly as possible”, which also includes a wheat treaty, in addition to “a ceasefire to allow us to evacuate women, civilians and children who have already spent 100 days under Russian bombs in eastern Ukraine.”
The Italian minister also explained that one should not forget that “there are 30 million tons of wheat blocked in Ukrainian ports by Russian warships".
“What we are doing is working for Russia to unblock wheat exports in Ukrainian ports, because at this moment we run the risk of new wars breaking out in Africa,” he added.
Di Maio recalled that next Tuesday the first dialogue session on food security will be held, which should include Germany, Turkey, France and other partners to “achieve the objective of unlocking the quantities of wheat that must leave Ukraine at a historic moment in which families cannot sustain increases in the cost of energy, industry, grain, and therefore bread, across the world.”
On the other hand, Putin responded that there will be cereal exports if the West lifts the sanctions it imposed on Russia for the attack on Ukraine.
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