Offered as multiple export routes… “When using Ukraine-controlled areas, start with clearing mines”
Pro-Russia Belarus is also mentioned… ‘Confusion of European policy’ as the cause of the food crisis
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would not block ships carrying Ukrainian grain, and that he would guarantee exports using Russian-occupied Ukrainian ports.
According to Russian news agency TAS, Putin said in an interview with Rossiya 1TV on the 4th (local time) that the food shortage was due to the short-sighted policy of European countries and the European Union (EU) Commission.
It is unclear whether the West and Ukraine will accept Putin’s proposal.
Putin’s remarks come amid criticism that Russia is triggering a global food crisis, especially in poor countries such as Africa, by blocking Ukrainian ports.
Alternative routes to increase Ukraine’s food exports include land routes, Ukrainian ports, and ports in Russian-occupied territories.
“There are several ways to export grain,” Putin said.
He added that the use of Ukrainian-controlled ports must be demined.
A prerequisite for grain shipments through Ukraine’s largest port city, Odessa, is to ease defenses once morest Russian warships.
“The simplest way is through Belarus,” Putin said.
Belarus, located in northern Ukraine, is facing Western sanctions along with Russia following helping the invasion by giving up its territory to the Russian army.
Putin has argued that new sanctions once morest Russia will exacerbate supply-demand imbalances in global grain markets.
“The situation in the global fertilizer market will worsen because of the new sanctions,” he said.
“The new sanctions from the West are absolutely short-sighted, erroneous, and just a stupid policy that leads to a dead end,” he said.
President Putin attributed the global food crisis to the confusion of Europe’s environmental and energy policies.
He said, “Many influential European politicians began to raise eco-friendly agendas in the energy sector, etc. following considering the concerns of the people of the earth related to climate change,” he said. “I started to finish it,” he said.
He added that although many contracts are still in effect, some cancellations have adversely affected the European energy market, causing energy prices to rise.
/yunhap news
