Miller Magazine Issue: 150 June 2022

31 MILLER / JUNE 2022 NEWS to be shipped out of Ukrainian ports. But officials have warned that any such corridor would not be possible without Russian consent. Ukraine says it needs "guar- antees of security," with deputy economy minister Taras Kachka telling Reuters that having "vessels of third coun- tries in the area … would be an ideal situation." Russia's foreign ministry in turn said that if it were to heed a United Nations appeal to open access to Ukraine's Black Sea ports, the removal of sanctions against Rus- sia would also have to be considered, the Interfax news agency reported. The issue was a key focus at both the G7 Foreign Ministers meeting in Germany and the US-EU Trade and Technology Council in France. “We must not be naive. Russia has now expanded the war against Ukraine to many states as a war of grain,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said after the G7 meeting. “It is not collateral damage, it is an instrument in a hybrid war that is intended to weaken cohesion against Russia's war.” In a joint statement released following the meeting, the G7 foreign ministers said they are "determined to con- tribute additional resources to and support all relevant efforts that aim to ensure availability and accessibility of food, energy and financial resources as well as basic commodities for all." The foreign ministers also called for Russia to "cease immediately its attacks on key transport infrastructure in Ukraine" to enable the export of agricul- tural products. "There are discussions ongoing at this moment to see how these corridors can be unblocked. We know that mines have been placed in the Black Sea. The Russians have blocked Ukrainian ships from moving in -- or out. And this is something that the secretary general has ad- dressed with the Russians. It's something we have been discussing as well with the Ukrainians: how we can work to get some of the product that is available to Ukraine out into the marketplace," said US Ambassador to the UN Lin- da Thomas-Greenfield. Turkey -- which is a major player in the Black Sea and controls access to it -- is involved in the discussions with the Russians on this effort, Making things even more difficult are drifting mines in the Black Sea, which each side accuses the other of planting. Insurance costs for any vessel braving these shipping lanes would also likely be very high. The situ- ation has taken on added urgency because of a short- age of grain storage space in Ukraine, where the next crop will be harvested from July. Up to 35% of Ukraine's total storage capacity of 61 million tonnes could still be used up by the old 2021 crop by the time the new harvest comes in, according to research center APK-Inform.