Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine is to blame, the German foreign minister claims
According to the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baierbock on Saturday, skyrocketing global food prices are due to Russia’s pursuit of a hybrid warfare strategy. Moscow retorted by accusing Western sanctions of causing the rise.
“Russia made a conscious decision to turn the war against Ukraine into a ‘grain war,’”According to the German minister, She claimed that this is affecting many states and Africa in particular.
”There is a threat of brutal hunger,”She said.
“We must not be naive about this,”Baerbock was adamant. “It’s not collateral damage, it’s a perfectly deliberate instrument in a hybrid war that is currently being waged.”
According to her, the G7 countries wanted alternative routes to delivering wheat from Ukraine to other parts of the globe.
The US State Department had tweeted earlier in the week: “While Ukraine used to export up to five million tons of grain per month, shipments have all but stopped due to the Kremlin’s blockade of Ukrainian ports.”Washington claimed such acts put an end to slavery “millions at risk of famine.”
According to Denys Shmygal, Ukraine’s Prime Minister, the country is currently unable export 90 million tonnes of its agricultural products. This has been due to Russia blocking Ukrainian ports. The country produces a significant share of world food – about 27% of its sunflower seeds, 5% of its barley, 3% of its wheat and rapeseed, and 2% of its corn.
Russia is the most important exporter worldwide of wheat. It is able to export wheat, but it faces difficulties due to its own demands and sanctions.
Responding to the German foreign minister’s comments, Moscow accused the West of causing the spike in food prices.
“Prices are rising due to sanctions imposed by the collective West under pressure from the United States. This only applies if you are referring to the actual reason. Failure to understand this is a sign of either stupidity or deliberate misleading of the public,”Maria Zakharova was the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson. She wrote this in Telegram.
According to the diplomat, the collapse of Ukraine’s statehood is also the work of the West. “Ms. Baerbock’s predecessors are also involved in it, who not only interfered in the situation in this country, but modeled Ukraine’s domestic and foreign policy in manual mode,”Sie wrote.
Russia attacked 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 grant the regions that broke away special status in the Ukrainian state.
Since then, the Kremlin demanded Ukraine declare itself neutral and vow to never join NATO’s military bloc. Kiev maintains that Russia’s offensive was not provoked and denies claims that it planned to seize the two republics.
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