Western officials on Friday tried to coax Russia into allowing Ukraine to ship its grain out to the world as the four-month-old war threatens to deepen the global food crisis.
Reuters reports that at a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in Bali, Indonesia, global leaders confronted the Kremlin's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov.
High on their concerns was getting grain shipments from Ukraine out of blockaded Black Sea ports.
According to reports, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Moscow to let Ukrainian grain out to the world.
“To our Russian colleagues: Ukraine is not your country. Its grain is not your grain. Why are you blocking the ports? You should let the grain out,” Blinken said, according to a Western diplomat in the room room who spoke on the condition of anonymity to The Washington Post.
Romania Reopens Soviet-Era Rail Line
In related news from Bloomberg, Romania reopened a Soviet-era rail link connecting its Danube River port of Galati to Ukraine a month earlier than expected to help boost grain exports from Ukraine.
Romania has already facilitated the export of more than 1 million tons of Ukrainian grain since the war began. In a Facebook post on Thursday, Transport Minister Sorin Grindeanu said the government refitted the link connecting Galati after works by a state-owned company began in early June.
