The Kremlin on Thursday dismissed Western accusations that Moscow, since its offensive in Ukraine, has been blocking Ukrainian grain exports, which threatens to lead to a global food crisis.
The Kremlin on Thursday dismissed Western accusations that Moscow, since its offensive in Ukraine, has been blocking Ukrainian grain exports, which threatens to lead to a global food crisis. “We categorically reject these accusations and conversely accuse Western countries of taking a series of illegal actions that led to this blockade,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Western countries “must cancel these illegal decisions which obstruct the freight of ships, which obstruct the export of grain”, continued Mr. Peskov, in reference to Western sanctions against Moscow. Ukraine, a major exporter of cereals, especially corn and wheat, is seeing its production blocked due to the fighting. For its part, Russia, another cereal power, cannot sell its production and its fertilizers because of Western sanctions affecting the financial and logistics sectors.
On Wednesday, a senior Russian diplomat, Andrei Roudenko, told him that the resolution of the crisis would require the lifting of sanctions against Moscow and “demining by kyiv” of the Black Sea ports. According to him, Moscow is then ready to provide “humanitarian corridors” so that ships can export.