STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT. United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said the consequences for the world of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are worsening, with 1.6 billion people likely to be affected. “The war’s impact on food security, energy and finance is systemic, severe and speeding up,” the Secretary-General said, presenting the UN’s second report into the repercussions of the conflict. He added that “for people around the world, the war is threatening to unleash an unprecedented wave of hunger and destitution, leaving social and economic chaos in its wake.”
Guterres said that while this year’s food crisis is “about lack of access,” next year’s “could be about lack of food.” “There is only one way to stop this gathering storm: the Russian invasion of Ukraine must end,” he pleaded in a speech.
The U.S. and Ukraine are accusing Russia of “blackmail” and “exporting starvation” by preventing most Ukrainian agricultural exports through a blockade of Black Sea ports. Why it matters: Many countries in the developing world are highly reliant on Ukraine’s wheat, sunflower oil and other exports. Without them on the market, prices are rising and the global food crisis is getting worse. Those include some of the world’s most populous countries: at least 25% of wheat exports in Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia and Pakistan came from Ukraine.
Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Lyudmila Vorobieva has asserted that her government has attempted to put forward a proposal for negotiations which have been sought by Ukraine, but Kyiv has not responded. At a conference held in Jakarta attended by the Russian Embassy’s Defense Attaché, Vorobieva said Russia believed that the failure to negotiate is because Ukraine is only trying to meet the demands of the United States, the European Union, and their allies.”
The United States and the European Union] continue to push and try to convince Ukraine that it can win by military means,” Vorobieva said. Meanwhile, Ukrainian Ambassador to Indonesia Vasyl Hamianin on Wednesday said negotiations could take place only if Russia lost the war or decided to withdraw all of its troops from Ukraine’s territory.
“The negotiations will talk about the compensation that Russia must pay to Ukraine and its people who were killed or injured, and for all the damage caused by their aggression,” Hamianin said. He said more than 100 days since Russia’s first military attack against Ukraine, Russia had proven that it cannot and does not want to negotiate.
Minister Retno and her Saudi Arabian counterpart on Tuesday discussed various issues including bilateral relations and other global issues, such as the war in Ukraine. Retno particularly highlighted the crisis caused by the Russian military operation in Ukraine, especially on food and energy. Minister Retno during talks with Prince Faisal agreed that “every country has the responsibility to create enabling environment to give a peaceful resolution a chance to succeed.”
About three weeks after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, Indonesian housewife Liesye Setiana was forced to close her banana chip business as cooking oil supplies dried up across the country. Millions of consumers and small business owners in the world’s fourth most populous nation have been rattled for months by skyrocketing cooking oil prices. As the war between the two major grain and sunflower seed producers sent jitters through global markets, many producers rushed to shift their goods abroad to cash in on soaring rates.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Indonesia Vasyl Hamianin on Monday said Russia was using Ukrainian food exports as blackmail. Hamianin said at least 23 million tons of grain were on hold as Russia blocks Ukrainian ports. He said the blockade has the potential to cause global food crisis as Ukraine is a major agricultural exporter.
Foreign Affairs Ministry Director I Gede Ngurah Swajaya warned that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict could endanger the Indonesian people, particularly farmers. He said one of the main concerns is that the majority of the supplies for Indonesian fertilizer production comes from Belarus and Russia. He said Indonesia could still acquire fertilizer from Russia in the midst of a conflict. However, the conflict obstructed part of the route, causing the logistics route to be disrupted.
Central Leadership Council of the Indonesian Christian Youth Movement (GAMKI) Secretary General Sahat Martin Philip Sinurat on Friday expressed hope that Russia and Ukraine would change their military approach to a peaceful negotiation approach in conflict resolution. He said GAMKI’s stance is clear, refusing war and rejecting a weapons approach in conflict resolution, but still respecting the attitudes and policies of countries in conflict. Sahat said GAMKI had officially conveyed the organization’s stance in separate meetings with the Federal Republic of Germany’s Ambassador to Indonesia, Ina Lepel, and the Russian Ambassador to Indonesia, Lyudmila Vorobieva.
Statistics Indonesia (BPS) on Thursday said that the spread of inflation due to the spike in world wheat prices amid the escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War was felt by Indonesia. This has been felt in the wholesale trade at the industrial level as a producer.
BPS Chairman Margo Yuwono said that inflation in wheat products can be seen from the large trade price index in the industrial sector. If it drags on, surely the negative impact will also get bigger and every country in the world must incur greater economic costs.
To end the suffering of the people, the destruction of infrastructure in Ukraine, and its economic impact on the world, it takes the humility of every leader of the big countries involved in this war to immediately end all conflicts and mutual economic boycotts (Red/many sources).
