The US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, accused Russia of using trade routes in the Black Sea as "blackmail", during his speech at the UN Security Council.

The Foreign Minister expressed his dissatisfaction with Russia's withdrawal from the grain deal, but he did not mention that the West was not fulfilling its obligations to Moscow. Blinken also repeated the premise that Western sanctions do not apply to Russian food and fertilizers.

“We are grateful to Turkey and others for their work to restore the grain deal,” Blinken said. “Every member of this council and every member of the United Nations should say to Moscow: enough, stop using the Black Sea as blackmail.”

It is noteworthy that the grain deal stopped on July 18, after Russia notified Turkey, Ukraine and the United Nations of its intention to stop working on it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had earlier indicated that the West had not fulfilled its obligations under the deal despite the efforts of the United Nations.

Putin indicated several times that the West took advantage of the deal to import the bulk of the grain to meet its needs, while the main goal of the deal was to supply grain to poor and needy countries, and this condition was never met.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency