Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that Westerners could not attack Russia with “insane” sanctions, while expecting the country to guarantee food supplies.
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On the same day, US Secretary of State Anthony Blingen called on the United States to hold a UN General Assembly. At the Security Council meeting, he accused the government of “seizing the food supply of millions of Ukrainians and millions of people around the world.”
“Our country is ready to accept all its obligations,” Mr Medvedev said.
“Otherwise it makes no sense: on the one hand they are imposing insane sanctions on us, on the other hand they are demanding that the food supply be ensured. It does not work like that, we are not fools,” the former president (2008-2012) added.
Russia and Ukraine provide 30% of the planet’s food supply.
The United States and Russia on Thursday blamed the United Nations for worsening food insecurity around the world as Washington called on Moscow to allow a halt to Ukrainian grain exports to Black Sea ports.
Stop blocking Black Sea ports! Allow free movement of ships, trains and trucks carrying food outside Ukraine, “said Anthony Blinken.
AFP
“Stop threatening to halt food and fertilizer exports to countries critical of your war of aggression,” he added.
Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, has categorically rejected Western allegations, condemning the West’s desire to “cap Russia on all the world’s problems.”
The ambassador to Russia said that the food crisis in the world has been going on for a long time and that its root causes are from the “inflation vortex” triggered by rising insurance costs, difficult logistics flows and speculation in Western markets.
A total of 80 countries were scheduled to speak at a Security Council meeting on Thursday, the day after UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Russia to release Ukrainian grain exports.
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