JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin Hosts African Leaders as Grain Deal Collapse Threatens Food Security” – Bloomberg
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- “Russia blames U.S. ‘pressure’ for absences at Africa summit
- Summit takes place after Russia quit Black Sea grain deal”
“… Putin [met] African leaders 10 days after Russia ended the Ukraine grain-export deal brokered by the [UN] and Turkey that had ensured safe passage of almost 33 million tons of crops via the Black Sea, helping to cool surging world food prices. The collapse of the accord threatens to intensify food-security concerns in Africa, where almost half of nations import more than a third of their wheat from Ukraine and Russia …. The Russian leader conceded [recently] that he can’t travel to South Africa for a [BRICS] meeting in August … [due to] the risk of possible arrest for alleged war crimes in Ukraine under a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. [Meanwhile,] [a] peace initiative [for] Russia and Ukraine begun by a group of African leaders in June … appears to be going nowhere. …”