The US State Department responded to Russia’s criticism of the implementation of the grain deal

Wheat shipments increase global supply, no matter where the grain goes, said Jim O’Brien, head of sanctions coordination at the US State Department. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the situation with the export of grain from the blocked ports of Ukraine a swindle.

“One of the areas of criticism that has been voiced is that food is not being sent to the global South, to the countries most in need. And, I think, of course… The problem is this… These are global markets. So no matter where the food goes, where this particular basket of wheat goes, it adds to the global supply and makes it possible for other people to buy other wheat.” said O’Brien to reporters on Friday (quoted by TASS).

A State Department spokesman called the grain export discussion “misleading”.

Earlier, Vladimir Putin, speaking at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (WEF), said that only 2 ships from Ukraine out of 87 were sent to countries in need, while the rest were sent to European countries. According to him, only 60,000 out of 2 million tons of agricultural products were delivered to the ports of developing countries. He accused the Western states of deceit and called the situation with the export of grain from the blocked ports of Ukraine “another impudent deception” and “swindle”. The next day, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed with Putin’s statement and confirmed that the grain does not really go to African countries, as was originally supposed, but to rich countries.

At an operational meeting with permanent members of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, the head of state declaredthat now only 3% of Ukrainian grain is supplied to the poorest countries, and this volume should be increased.