Putin ready to help overcome food crisis if West lifts sanctions

Moscow is completely ready to make a “significant contribution” to averting a looming foods crisis if the West lifts sanctions above Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin advised Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Thursday.

Russia was slapped with unprecedented sanctions after Putin purchased troops into neighbouring Ukraine on February 24.

The sanctions and armed forces motion have disrupted provides of fertiliser, wheat and other commodities from both Russia and Ukraine. The two countries produce 30 percent of the international wheat source.

“Putin emphasises that the Russian Federation is all set to make a important contribution to overcoming the food items crisis via the export of grain and fertiliser, topic to the lifting of politically motivated constraints by the West,” the Kremlin said in a statement next the phone.

It additional that Putin also spoke about the “methods taken to be certain security of navigation, which includes the every day opening of humanitarian corridors for the exit of civilian ships from the ports of the Azov and Black Sea, which is impeded by the Ukrainian aspect”.

Putin also explained as “unfounded” accusations that Russia was to blame for the complications with foodstuff materials on the international market place.

The United States scoffed at Putin’s supply.

“Now they are making use of economic applications, as weapons. They are weaponizing food. They’re weaponizing financial support. I guess we shouldn’t be stunned by that, because they have weaponized every little thing else, such as lies and information and facts,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby claimed.

“The administration is in conversations with our international companions and allies about how ideal to address this,” he stated.

Draghi told a press meeting that “the function of this telephone phone was to talk to if some thing could be performed to unblock the wheat that is now in the depots in Ukraine”.

He suggested “collaboration involving Russia and Ukraine on the unblocking of the Black Sea ports” exactly where the wheat, which is at risk of rotting, is found — “on the a single hand to obvious these ports and on the other hand to assure that there are no clashes all through the clearing”.

Draghi claimed there was “a readiness to continue in this path” on the Russian facet, and that he would call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “to see if there is a comparable readiness”.

But “when requested if I have witnessed any glimmer of hope for peace, the answer is no,” the Italian primary minister explained.