Washington claims its restrictions on Russia don’t affect the global food market
Despite sounding the alarm about rising global food prices, the US has no intention of lifting restrictions on Russian trade, US State Department spokesman Ned Price told journalists during a daily briefing on Wednesday.
Moscow asserts that they hinder its ability to export fertilizer and food. However, this assertion is false. “lie,”He spoke.
“We certainly won’t lift our sanctions in response to empty promises, and we’ve heard empty promises before from the Russian Federation,”Price responded to a question about Washington’s willingness to lift restrictions like Moscow suggested.
Russia is accused of driving up food prices in the US by its ongoing military actions in Ukraine. Russia refused to permit Ukraine to export grain to the West.
On Wednesday, Andrey Rudenko (Russian Deputy Foreign Minister) made one of his latest remarks on the matter. According to Rudenko, a solution to the current food crisis will require addressing it. “lifting sanctions imposed on Russian exports and financial transactions”As well “removing sea mines from all Ukrainian ports”.
Price rejected this and other statements made by Russian officials. “lies” “disinformation”.
“US sanctions are not causing disruptions to Russia’s agricultural exports. The fact is that US sanctions were specifically designed to allow for the export of agricultural commodities and fertilizer from Russia,”He said.
According to reports, Washington considered at one time imposing sanctions on Russian fertilizer and food. However, buyers from Russia like Brazil were strongly opposed. US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said that “maybe sacrifices are necessary to address the unjustified war that Russia has chosen to start,” during a UN meeting on food security in March. Washington ultimately resisted such an idea and instead added fertilizer and food products to the list of exempt items.
A spokesperson for the state department implied that Rudenko and other Russian officials had falsely claimed otherwise. Moscow maintains that Russian food and fertilizer exports suffer indirectly from restrictions on financial transactions and insurance for vessels.
Likewise, it was Ukraine’s decision to deploy mines along its coast to prevent possible Russian amphibious attacks and to ban foreign ships from leaving its ports, Moscow stated. It said its military won’t stop civilian traffic to Ukrainian ports, provided the ships go along Russia-designated and controlled routes. It said that Russia cannot guarantee their safety by itself. Officials from the West accuse Moscow for maintaining an entire naval blockade against Ukraine.
Price and other Western officials, like British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, interpreted Rudenko’s remarks as an offer of free passage to ships carrying Ukrainian grain in exchange for sanctions relief.
Russia launched an offensive against Ukraine in late February, following Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. French- and German-brokered protocols were intended to provide special status for the Ukrainian states that breakaway areas.
Since then, the Kremlin demanded Ukraine declare itself neutral and vow to never join NATO’s military bloc. Kiev claims that the Russian invasion was unprovoked. It also denies any plans to take the republics with force.
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