BERLIN: Russia's war against Ukraine, not Western sanctions, will add another 40 or 50 million more people to the ranks of the hungry, said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Berlin.

"There is no reason other than Russia's blockade of Ukraine and Russia's refusal in many cases to export its own grain for political reasons," said Blinken at a joint news conference with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Friday.

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Baerbock said international partners were working together to counter Russia's "cynical" and potentially destabilizing grains war and the corresponding propaganda.