Russia denies blame on food crisis as Putin meets African Union leaders

GOOBJOOG NEWS|MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin met African Union leaders on Friday, where he maintained that Moscow was not to blame for the growing food crisis affecting their continent.

A State TV showed Putin greeting the Chairman of the AU and Senegalese President, Macky Sall and chairman of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, at the beginning of their talks in Moscow.

The African continent has remained one of the most affected of the world by the ongoing war that has sent prices of grains, cooking oils, fuel, and fertilizer to the roof.

Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies, while Russia is also a key global fertilizer exporter and Ukraine is a major exporter of corn and sunflower oil.

As Putin continues to blame Ukraine and the West for the resulting halt in Ukrainian grain exports, Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov told reporters that, “With a high degree of probability and confidence, I can assume that the president will give exhaustive explanations of his vision of the situation with Ukrainian grain.

“The president will tell our African friends the real state of affairs, he will explain once again what is happening there, who has mined the ports, what is needed for grain to go, that no one on the Russian side is blocking these ports.”

Moscow blames the current situation on all the naval mines floating near Ukrainian ports and on Western sanctions which are hitting its own grain and fertilizer exports because of the impact on shipping, banking, and insurance.

Russia had proposed to allow vessels carrying food to leave Ukraine in return for the lifting of some sanctions but Ukraine described the proposal as “blackmail.”

But President Putin in his opening comments at the meeting with African leaders on Friday did not make reference to the food crisis. He only spoke generally on Moscow’s desire to develop ties with Africa.