The Russian and Turkish foreign ministers disagreed on Wednesday on the extent of the global food crisis after talks focused on getting Ukraine grain exports crucial to the global food supply moving through the Black Sea. The Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, sought to play down the entire issue, suggesting that a global food catastrophe caused by a Russian blockade was a western exaggeration.

“The current situation has nothing to do with the food crisis,” Lavrov told a news conference in Ankara, the Turkish capital. “The Russian Federation is not creating any obstacles for the passage of ships and vessels.”

He placed all the blame on Ukraine, saying that its naval mines and refusal to use humanitarian corridors offered by Russia in the Black Sea shipping lanes were stalling shipments.

The Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, disagreed with Lavrov, saying that there was a global problem, but that it involved both Russian and Ukrainian products. “The food crisis in the world is a real crisis,” Cavusoglu said, noting that Russia and Ukraine together supply about one-third of the world’s grain products.

The Turkish foreign minister said that a mechanism needed to be found to get not just agricultural products from Ukraine out through the Black Sea, but also Russian fertiliser, which is vital for global supplies.

Russia and Ukraine each blame the other for the lack of exports. The two countries normally supply about 40 per cent of wheat needs in Africa.

(New York Times News Service)