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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said his country’s military action in Ukraine was not responsible for the global food crisis, claiming that the West was preventing exports of Russian seeds.
The food market is unbalanced in the most serious way,” Putin said, handling the virtual peak meeting BRICS Plus” which united the leaders of 17 countries, including China, India, Brazil and South Africa.
Putin accused Western countries, especially the United States, disrupted global agricultural production with restrictions on sending fertilizer from Russia and Belarus, and by” making it difficult “for Moscow to export seeds.
Increasing the price of agricultural staples, such as seeds, has hit the most difficult developing countries, the market is developing where bread and flour are the ways needed to survive for most populations,” Putin said.
He also slammed “hysteria” around the seeds that have been trapped in the Port of Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian military action, said that it “did not solve any problems in the global wheat market”.
Putin said Russia was “the actor responsible in the global food market” and is ready to “honestly fulfill all his contractual obligations”.
Millions of tons of wheat and other seeds are currently trapped in the Port of Ukraine, both being blocked or occupied by Russian troops, and ships face the danger of mining that has been placed in the black sea.
Friday also marked four months since Russia sent tens of thousands of troops on the border, releasing conflicts that had killed thousands of fighters and civilians, revoked millions of people, and saw cities exploded into pieces of Russian artillery and air attacks.
Washington and Brussels have hit Moscow with unprecedented sanctions, which has encouraged Putin to find new markets and strengthen relations with countries in Africa and Asia.
