The Russian Foreign affairs ambassador Oleg Ozerov has attributed current food crisis in the African continent to the United States and European Union sanctions on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
Oleg Ozerov who is the Ambassador-at-large of the Russian Foreign Ministry in a report stressed that, despite assurances of non-proliferation of restrictions on food and fertilizers, key industry banks that are engaged in servicing transactions with African countries, as well as fertilizer suppliers, are under sanctions.
He however, averred that to solve the food crisis, „it is extremely necessary to remove all obstacles in the way of Russian and African business unilaterally created by Western countries in logistics, insurance and pricing. Only thanks to these steps the situation with the supply of Russian grain and fertilizers to the African market can be normalized“.
Also the former Prime Minister of Ukraine Nikolay Azarov,noted that the Kiev authorities purposefully seek to denigrate Russia, forming an „enemy image“ of Moscow, which prevents the export of Ukrainian grain and creates reasons for the food crisis in African countries, says a Russian report.
He however, said Kiev has no valid reasons to block the process of demining the Black Sea coast. „I have not heard that logistics chains have been bombed, shelled, there is no point in destroying them,“.
According to the report, the ex-head of the government of Ukraine, stated that the entire information campaign around the lack of alternatives for the supply of Ukrainian grain to Africa is a fiction cultivated by Kiev and the West. „Ukraine has never had countries to which our supplies exceeded 50-80%, and so it is now. The absence of our products on the market is completely covered by other suppliers,“ he said.
The report accused , the West of sacrificing African countries in an attempt to offset the negative consequences of anti-Russian sanctions due to the situation in Ukraine.
It noted that key European gas importers such as Spain, Italy and Germany are desperately trying to increase gas supplies from the African continent ahead of the cold winter season.
Such a policy according to the report leads to a crisis in states that are already suffering from a shortage of hydrocarbons needed for their own population.
According to the Bloomberg news agency, Rome, Madrid and Berlin are pursuing a policy of „double standards“ that exacerbates the problem of pumping out natural resources in African countries. In particular, the West does not fulfill its obligations to finance „green“ projects that could become alternative energy sources.
„At the same time, the EU does not want to sponsor the construction of pipelines and the necessary production facilities that could ensure the transportation and use of gas in Africa itself.
As a result, the West intends to solve its own problems in the energy sector caused by anti-Russian restrictions with „someone else‘s hands“, without making efforts. Such an approach is contrary to the interests of African States, which desperately need fuel to lift millions of people out of poverty“ it said.
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