Iran Press/ America: In a speech on Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for all restrictions on Russian food and fertilizers to be lifted. Otherwise “tens of millions of people would tip over the edge into food insecurity, followed by malnutrition, mass hunger and famine, in a crisis that could last for years,” he warned.
Global food security is currently under threat due to the “incompetent macroeconomic decisions” of the West and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said on Thursday.
“The problems arose long before the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine. They were aggravated by the wave of unilateral, illegitimate, anti-Russian sanctions, which undermined trust in Western nations due to their erratic behavior,” he said, as cited by the embassy’s social media.
The sanctions also disrupted supply chains and international financial flows,” he added. “Moreover, threats of additional restrictions cause more panic and instability.”
“Some have tried to blame the sanctions imposed on … the Russian Federation by the United States and many other countries for worsening this crisis. This is false. When we imposed sanctions on Russia in order to end the war as quickly as possible, we deliberately and carefully created exceptions for agricultural goods and fertilizer,” he stated.
The accusations came in response to claims coming from the US that Russian military action in Ukraine was causing a global food crisis. Secretary of State Antony Blinken put the blame for the escalating food shortages on Moscow in a speech at a UN meeting in New York on Wednesday. 219
