Global Food Crisis Caused by Sanctions on Russia, Says Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

Addis Ababa July 27/2022/ENA/ Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the global food crisis is a result of unprecedented sanctions against his country and insisted on softening it to mitigate the problem.

Briefing African diplomats based in Addis Ababa and the media today, Lavrov said the sanction against Russia, especially against its ships, has been affecting the food, fertilizer and gas markets.

The minister described the ongoing global food crisis coverage by the "Western media totally distorted.”

He insisted that the shortage of food and fertilizer is instead exacerbated because of the  unprecedented campaign of sanctions and accusations.

This sanction is affecting Russia from supplying food and fertilizer to the global market, including Africa, which is the major importer of these goods.

“The sanction is undermining the availability of food in the market. When we explained this to them, they said food and fertilizer are not affected by sanctions. Of course, it is half true. But the truth is that the list of sanctions do not contain an item saying ‘food.’ But it does contain a prohibition for the Russian ships to go to the port in the Mediterranean.”   

Lavrov added that the sanction also includes prohibition of foreign ships to go to Russian ports to pick up food supplies and other cargos.  

Mentioning the latest deal with the UN and Turkey on reopening the blockade on Black Sea routes for grain exports, the Russian minister said “the latest attempt by our Turkish friend and the Secretary-General of the United Nations resulted in a deal between Russia and the UN whereby Secretary-General António Guterres committed himself to press Western countries to lift those restrictions, which I just mentioned. We will see whether he can succeed.”