Russia's envoy to US blames West's unwise macroeconomic moves for global food crisis

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov on May 18, blamed Western nations for ruining global food security with their unwise macroeconomic moves. Antonov further asserted that global food security problems began long before the commencement of the special military operation in Ukraine.

The Press service of Russian embassy on its Telegram channel, quoted Antonov as saying, "Food security had been ruined for several years by unwise macroeconomic steps of the collective West fueled by the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. In other words, problems emerged long before the beginning of Russia's special operation in Ukraine." 

The food crisis worsened as a result of a wave of "unilateral and illegitimate anti-Russia sanctions" that "undermined western governments' credibility due to their unpredictability, as well as broke supply chains and disrupted international financial flows," Antonov said, adding that claims by western countries that "their bans do not cover supplies of food and fertilisers" are "deceitful," as sanctions in the financial and transportation areas directly influence the food and fertiliser supply.

He further stressed that Russia remains committed to its obligations on international contracts regarding export supplies of agriculture products, fertilizers, energy and other important goods. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said earlier on May 18 that without Russian and Belarusian fertilisers, as well as Ukrainian grain, the international community would be unable to properly resolve the food crisis. He stated that Russian products and fertilisers should have full and unrestricted access to global markets.

Russia-Ukraine war

Russia said it was using a new generation of powerful lasers to destroy drones in Ukraine, deploying some of the Kremlin's secret weapons to counter a flood of Western weapons. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mocked the news of the lasers, comparing them to the so-called wonder weapons that Nazi Germany unveiled in an attempt to avoid defeat during World War II.

Earlier on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he had decided to carry out a special military operation in response to a request from the heads of the Donbass republics, following which the US and its allies imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and legal entities, as well as accelerated arms supplies to Kyiv.

(With agency inputs)

Image: AP