Russia is 'weaponizing' food, Joly tells Commonwealth partners as meeting ends without formal rebuke of Moscow

Commonwealth leaders ended their firstmeeting in four years on Saturday by notingthe United Nations resolution that condemned Russia's invasion of Ukrainebut the organization issued no rebuke of its own.

Outside of the conference room, it was left to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and more pointedly, Foreign Affairs Minister Mlanie Joly tolay the blame for the impending food security crisis at the feet of Moscow.

Both Britain and Canadaspent two daysat the Commonwealth meeting trying to convince members on the fence to blame Russia for soaring word-wide food and fuel prices.

It was,at times, a struggle to get mention of support for Ukraine in the final communiqu. In the end it was there, but with no direct condemnation of Russia, which has supporters among the 54-nation body.

"Yes, we recognize the challenges politically that some member-states face," Trudeau said, speaking to reporters as the meeting ended.

Trudeau said hemade it his mission to argue Ukraine's case to theroom and in meetings with individual leaders. During a United Nations General Assembly vote in March, 10 Commonwealth countries abstained from voting, while one didnot vote.

"I can assure you that the topic of Ukraine was much discussed. And in our consensus communiqu around which we are united there is strong language of support for Ukraine," he said.

What the final communiqu said was the Commonwealth took "note"of the UN resolution condemning Russia.

The stern language, however, came outside of the conference room from Joly.

"What is clear to us is that Russia is weaponizing food, and putting a toll on many countries around the world, and putting 50 million lives at risk," shetold reporters late Friday, while giving a recap of the first day of the Commonwealth meeting in Kigali, Rwanda.

Black Sea ports blocked

Ukraine is the world's fourth-largest grain exporter and reportedly has more 30million tonnesof grain in storage, waiting for export. Farmers are said to be building temporary silos and are worried because the summer harvest is only weeks away.

The country's Black Sea ports of Odesa, Pivdennyi, and Mykolaivand Chornomorsk serve as major terminals shipping about 4.5 million tonnesof grain per month, but a Russian naval blockade is preventing movement.

A recent report from the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) concluded that Russia is taking advantage of transportation bottlenecks to attack Ukraine's food storage facilities.

Russian forces have attacked grain silos across the country and stolen an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 tonnesof grain from occupied regions, according to Ukraine's Defence Ministry.

The CSIS report, posted online on June 15, noted "Russia destroyed one of Europe's largest food storage facilities in Brovary, roughly 19 kilometresnortheast of Ukraine's capital of Kyiv."

The subject of the Russian blockade of Ukraine grain exports will also be at the centreof the G7 leaders meeting, beginning Sunday in Germany.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last week delivered a scathing critique of the crisis, blaming the U.S. and not the Russian military actions in Ukraine for endangering food security, and rising inflation and fuel prices.

He reinforced the message in a phone call last week with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was one of the Commonwealth leaders to skip this week's meeting.

Africa is heavily reliant on Ukrainian and to a lesser extent Russian grain.

For those leaders whodid show up in Rwanda, Joly said Canada has been clear in assigning blame for the crisis.

Sanctions not to blame, Joly says

"This is not the fault of the Western sanctions," she said. "This is really Putin's war of choice that is affecting food security around the world."

Ten members of the Commonwealth abstained from condemning Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in a United Nations resolution last spring.

Joly said she believes Canada made "headway" at the conference in convincing some of those nations to stand more firmly with Ukraine, but she wasn't specific.

In a policy session held before the meeting of Commonwealth leaders, there was a call for African countries to be more self-sufficient in food supplies to offset imports.

Agnes Kalibata, president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), told the conference said that the agriculture sector in developing countries of the Commonwealth is "heavily underinvested." She called for adequate funding to boost "the sector productivity, strengthen its resilience and deal with climate change, as well as create jobs, according to local media reports.