From Michelle Nichols
(Archyde.com) – The United Nations aid coordinator, Martin Griffiths, will visit Moscow on Thursday and Friday to discuss ways to clear the way for exports of grain and other foodstuffs from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, a United Nations spokesman said.
Griffiths will meet with Russian officials days after another top UN official, Rebecca Greenspan, held “constructive” talks in Moscow with Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov on expediting the resumption of Russia’s grain and fertilizer exports.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is seeking to broker what he calls a “comprehensive deal” to resume Ukrainian food exports and Russian food and fertilizer exports, which were disrupted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
“The situation is still pending,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. The Secretary-General, and the two main people he has tasked with working on, Rebecca Greenspan and Martin Griffiths, we will do that and we will go wherever we have to go to make this project a success.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that ships carrying grain could leave Ukraine’s Black Sea ports through “humanitarian corridors” and that Russia was ready to guarantee their safety.
Russia’s war in Ukraine has fueled a global food crisis with soaring prices for grain, cooking oils, fuel and fertilizer. Together, Russia and Ukraine produce nearly a third of the world’s wheat supply. Russia is also a source of fertilizers, and Ukraine is a major exporter of corn and sunflower oil.