2022-08-06 09:48:45
An answer of Ambassador Antonov to a media question:
: Dear Anatoly Ivanovich, how would you comment on another statement by the head of the US Agency for International Development, S. Power, about Russia's role in the global food crisis?
A. Antonov: Attempts to shift the responsibility on Russia are absurd. As always - a lot of lies. Statements are unprofessional, without proper analysis and understanding of the situation, or rather willingness to understand the essence of the problem.
The current situation with the shortage of agricultural products is due to a number of factors. They are the consequences of the pandemic, disruptions in supply chains, inflation, accelerated urbanization, accumulated soil fatigue, and climate change.
A separate place in this row is occupied by the "array" of illegal anti-Russian sanctions. The restrictions are deliberately designed to confuse and intimidate foreign companies and make their cooperation with Russian enterprises as difficult as possible.
Despite this, our country continues to make efforts to strengthen food security. Since 2003 we have been contributing to the UN World Food Program. We act as a reliable and responsible supplier of products to the world agricultural market. We work actively with our foreign colleagues. During the recent tour of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov to the countries of Africa our partners confirmed the rich, mutually beneficial and fruitful nature of the meetings. Let me remind you that we are talking about such states as Egypt, Republic of Congo, Uganda and Ethiopia.
It seems that Washington could not reconcile with its absence among the participants of the quadripartite initiative on the safe transportation of grain and food from the ports of Ukraine of July 22. Tellingly, U.S. officials prefer not to talk at all about the signing on the same day of a memorandum between Russia and the United Nations to facilitate the export of Russian agricultural products.
For our part, we can only welcome the resumption of agricultural shipments via the Black Sea. We hope that the Ukrainian side and its curators in the West will not try to undermine this process. They will stop playing sanctimonious when it comes to prioritizing supplies to starving developing countries. After all, as far as we know, two of the three dry cargo ships that left Ukrainian harbors this morning are headed for Europe.
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