US backs shipment of Russian grain exports amid global food insecurity

The US ambassador to the UN said the Biden administration supports the shipment of Russian grain and fertiliser to address increasing global food insecurity sparked by the war in Ukraine

The US ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday said the Biden administration supports the shipment of Russian grain and fertilizer to address increasing global food insecurity sparked by the war in Ukraine.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters at UN headquarters that there are no US sanctions on Russian shipments of grain and fertilizer, but she said companies are a little nervous and have been holding back.

Thomas-Greenfield said the United States is prepared to give comfort letters to grain and fertilizer exporters and insurance companies in an attempt to get badly needed agricultural products out of Russia.

She said the Biden administration is very supportive of efforts by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to allow grain exports out of Ukraine by train and the Black Sea, as well as his work to ensure Russian food and fertilizer have unrestricted access to global markets.

A UN spokesman said Tuesday that Rebeca Grynspan, the secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, visited Moscow on Monday and held constructive discussions with First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov on facilitating Russian grain and fertilizer exports.

Grynspan was in Washington on Tuesday meeting with US officials, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Global hunger levels are at a new high, Guterres said. He said Ukraine and Russia together produce almost a third of the world's wheat and barley and half of its sunflower oil, while Russia and its ally Belarus are the world's number two and three producers of potash, a key ingredient of fertilizer.