Kremlin Says Russia Not Source Of Global Hunger Threat, It Is All Due To Sanctions

Russia is not a source of the threat of global hunger, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, adding that this situation is due to sanctions

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd May, 2022) Russia is not a source of the threat of global hunger, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, adding that this situation is due to sanctions.

Last week, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) called for expansion of solutions to tackle food crisis, which is aggravating global food insecurity amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and economic crises. The WFP also said that the Ukrainian crisis may cause an increase in the number of food insecure people, forcing about 46 million individuals to current 276 million food insecure people as many of them inhabit degraded areas, prompting tensions over limited resources.

"Russia has always been a fairly reliable grain exporter. Ukraine was a fairly reliable grain exporter. The Russian side does not at all prevent Ukraine from exporting grain to Poland by rail: echelons with weapons arrive from there, no one prevents them from exporting grain back on the same echelons ... we are not the source of the problem that leads to the threat of world hunger. The sources of this problem are those who imposed sanctions, and the sanctions themselves, which are in effect," Peskov told reporters.

At the same time, Russia agrees with the concerns of the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about a potential global food crisis, the official said.