Russia will not export food at the expense of its own market, according to Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s Deputy Chairman of the Security Council and former President.
Medvedev responded to recent pronouncements by Western leaders concerning food security in an extended Telegram message. Because Russia and Ukraine are major wheat suppliers, accounting for roughly 30% of global exports, prices have risen significantly since the start of Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions imposed on Moscow by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and other Western countries, according to RT.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated on Wednesday that Russian fertilizers and food goods should be freely available on global markets.
According to RT, Medvedev agreed that importing countries would “have a very difficult time” without wheat and other food supplies from Russia. The West, according to Medvedev, is now “backing up” because “all these horrible sanctions are ineffective when it comes to vital goods” like food and electricity.
The former Russian President said that sanctions make it difficult for everyone to live a normal, successful life. The problem has been compounded, he claims, by NATO’s expansion and the “mess with loans, payments, and other things.”
Russia, according to Medvedev, is ready to meet all of its responsibilities, but it has the right to seek some help from its trading partners. He emphasized that it would be illogical otherwise.
“On the one hand, insane sanctions are being imposed on us, and on the other hand, [the West] is demanding food supplies,” he said.
“It will not happen, we’re not idiots,” he said, adding that there would be no export deliveries to the detriment of the Russian market, RT reported.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council met on Thursday to discuss food insecurity caused by conflict and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
As he opened the meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted. “Large swaths of the Black Sea have been shut down by Russia’s unjustified aggression. It has rendered the region dangerous to navigate, confining Ukrainian agricultural exports and threatening world food supply, as we have heard “Blinken explained.
Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s foreign minister, has also accused Moscow of using grain exports as a weapon of war.
“Russia is using another awful and powerful weapon in this war: hunger and hardship. Russia has started a grain war by blocking Ukrainian ports and damaging silos, streets, and railroads, causing a global food crisis “Baerbock made the remarks during a UN meeting the day before.
