Senegal’s President Macky Sall said Russia’s Vladimir Putin had told him he was ready to enable the export of Ukrainian grain to ease a global food crisis that is hitting Africa especially hard.
Russia was also ready to ensure the export of its own wheat and fertilizer, Sall said after the talks in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on day 100 of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Sall did not say if Putin had attached any conditions to his offer. Russia had previously said it was ready to allow vessels carrying food to leave Ukraine in return for the lifting of some Western sanctions against it, a proposal that Ukraine has described as “blackmail.”
Africa is heavily dependent on grain supplies from Russia and Ukraine that have been badly disrupted by the conflict.
