Moscow will help ‘relieve the food crisis’ if sanctions are lifted

According to a Kremlin statement, Putin said during a phone call, Russia is “ready to make a significant contribution to overcoming the food crisis through exports of grain and fertilizers, which are supported by the lifting of politically motivated sanctions by the West.” is subjected to.” With Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

The Kremlin specifies that the call took place “at the initiative of the Italian side”.

Mr Putin assured that Western allegations that Moscow, since its attack in Ukraine, has blocked Ukrainian grain exports, were “baseless”.

“The difficulties that have arisen are associated, among other things, with disruptions in the functioning of production and logistics chains, as well as the financial policy of Western countries during the coronavirus pandemic,” he said.

“The situation has worsened because of the anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union,” he said, referring to the unprecedented round of sanctions imposed on Russia.

Ukraine, a major exporter of grain, especially corn and wheat, is seeing its production halted because of the fighting.

Russia, for its part, another grain power, cannot sell its production and its fertilizers because of Western sanctions affecting the financial and logistics sectors. Both countries produce one-third of the world’s wheat.

Vladimir Putin also told Mr Draghi about “ongoing work to establish a peaceful life in the free cities of the Donbass” and said the peace process was “stopped by Kyiv”.

According to a statement from the Italian government “the call was devoted to the development of the situation in Ukraine and efforts to find a common solution to the ongoing food crisis, as well as the dire repercussions on the world’s poorest countries”.

Neither of the two leaders spoke directly about the peace plan in Ukraine proposed by Italy.

The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, ruled on Thursday that the plan presented by Italy to the United Nations was not “serious” and that he only knew its contents from the press, the text not being communicated to Moscow.