Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia’s actions in Ukraine were not to blame for the global food crisis and accused the US of raising food prices in his speech at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday.
“Famine in the poorest countries will be at the discretion of the US administration and Eurocrats,” he said.
Putin said Russia is ready to export more grain to balance world food markets. He said Russia’s focus would be on the supply of food to countries that are at risk of facing famine.
Some major episodes: Global leaders have strongly criticized Putin’s actions in Ukraine, saying Russia is using food as a weapon of war.
Russia is Block Sagar Reach To the Black Sea port near Ukraine, which means grain that is still under Ukrainian control cannot be exported to many countries dependent on it. According to the United Nations, Russia’s blockade has already raised global food prices and threatens catastrophic food shortages in some parts of the world.
Ukrainian officials and some international officials have alleged Russia will loot the country of grain And it pervades the fields of other commodities. Denis Marchuk, deputy chairman of the Ukrainian Agricultural Council Public Union, said Russia “stole about 600,000 tons of grain” from Ukrainian farmers.
satellite photos Last month Russian ships were shown loaded with Ukrainian grain in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, provided by Maxar Technologies. Another set of satellite images showed one of the ships arrived at the Syrian port of Latakia last month, its second voyage within four weeks.
during this: In his Friday speech, Putin again blamed the West for “shifting responsibility” to Russia for any problems in the global economy.
Putin also said Russia was not following a “path of isolation”, adding that Moscow “wants to partner with anyone who wants to work with us, and there are many of them.”
The Russian leader said that any country that wants to work with Russia “experiences open pressure, including direct threats from the US and Europe, but when we talk about countries led by true leaders, there is this blackmail.” has no meaning.” I talk to those who understand what interests someone else and what interests them. ,
CNN’s Ivana Kottasova contributed reporting to this post.