UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th May, 2022) The collective West is engaged in "bare face lying" and fabricating blame against Russia regarding the food supply shortages around the world while ignoring the consequences of its actions, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzia said in remarks to the UN Security Council on Thursday.
"It is clear that this kind of bare face lying and fabricating might have an effect on an unsuspecting public, but certainly not on serious experts," Nebenzia said. "The truth, ladies and gentlemen, is that you are distracted by your futile attempts to break the back of the Russian economy at all costs and to isolate our country. I'm not talking here about the inevitable destructive consequences for your own economies. Ultimately, we cannot do anything about your maniacal endeavor to shoot yourself in the foot or even in both feet."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other US allies on the UN Security Council accused Russia of blocking various food products like grains from being being exported out of Ukraine. Blinken also claimed the sanctions imposed on Russia are not preventing food and fertilizer to be exported from the country.
However, Nebenzia said Russia suspects Ukraine is sending grain to Europe in exchange for military assistance amid Russia's special military operation there.
In addition, Nebenzia said Western sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus damaged the agricultural sector even prior to the start of the special military operation in Ukraine.
Nebenzia explained that there is no point to discuss sanctions exemptions because Western farmers who dependent on Russian and Belarusian fertilizers are struggling to cope with new rules involving banks and companies that are scared about the possibly violating sanctions. These issues have caused delays or even terminations of transactions, he added.
Brazilian Ambassador to the United Nations Ronaldo Costa Filho echoed Nebenzia's concerns on the impact of US sanctions on the food supply.
Filho said it is undeniable that the West's unilateral sanctions imposed on Russia have a secondary impact on the operation of markets, resulting in an increase of costs and in hampering the availability of foodstuffs and fertilizers.
Ukraine is a key global grain producer, accounting for 9% of the world's wheat exports, 13.5% of corn and 70% of sunflower products. The United Nations' World Food Program (WFP) says the Ukrainian crisis has triggered a price spike on key staples in the diet of most families in the heavily import-depended middle East, putting basic food items beyond the reach of those who are most vulnerable.
On February 24, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine after the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics requested help to defend them from intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops. The Russian Defense Ministry said the special operation solely targets Ukraine's military infrastructure and aims to demilitarize and de-Nazify the country. The United States and its allies responded by imposing comprehensive sanctions against Russia and Belarus and are supplying Ukraine with offensive and defensive weapons in the amount of multiple billions of Dollars.
