The Foreign Ministry responded to the UN with a call to lift sanctions in exchange for access to Ukrainian ports

RUSSIA can open access to the seaports of Ukraine if the US and the EU lift sanctions from it, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said, TASS reports.

So he responded to the call of the head of the UN World Food Program (WFP), David Beasley, to Moscow to open the seaports of Ukraine. He accused Russia of deliberately blocking waterways. According to Beasley, if the situation does not change, there will be problems with the EXPORT of grain, and then the world could begin to starve. According to REUTERS, the request to open the ports was addressed personally to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Here it is necessary <...> to pay attention to the whole complex of reasons that caused the current food crisis. First of all, these are the sanctions imposed against Russia by the United States and the European Union, which interfere with the normal free trade in food products,” the Deputy Minister said.

António Guterres, Secretary General of the organization, António Guterres, made the same call to Russia at a special UN meeting on food security. He stated that the world community should not hinder the export of Russian goods, including food and fertilizers.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken opined that the situation with food security in the world has worsened not because of the sanctions. The restrictions imposed by Washington do not apply to fertilizers and agricultural products, he explained. International organizations and governments of different countries should join forces to achieve the opening of corridors for the safe export of food from the territory of Ukraine by sea and land transport, the Secretary of State believes.

The Russian authorities have repeatedly responded to accusations from the West about the impact on the food market. Vladimir Putin , in particular, warned the EU countries that they could face "intractable consequences" due to the "continued sanctions obsession". According to the Russian president, the actions of Western countries have already caused famine in the world's poorest states. To lift sanctions against Russia also called for his press secretary Dmitry Peskov.