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Vladimir Putin
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Russian President Vladimir Putin is deliberately seeking to cause famine in the Middle East and Africa, Rüdiger von Fritsch, a former German ambassador to Russia, was quoted as saying by the DPA.
The Kremlin’s goal is to destabilize Europe with a massive wave of refugees, von Fritsch told Sunday’s Tagespiegel newspaper.
“Putin’s idea is that after the grain supply collapses, starving people will flee these regions and try to reach Europe, like the millions of Syrians fleeing the horrors of war,” he said. According to the former ambassador to Moscow, this is the reason why Russian forces are hindering Ukraine’s grain exports and shelling of grain silos.
“With a new influx of refugees, he wants to destabilize Europe and increase political pressure on Western countries to give up their firm stance against Russia,” Von Fritsch added. He said it was Putin’s “new hybrid war”.
This new way of conducting military operations includes non-military means such as cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns, reminds DPA. Ukraine is one of the world’s largest producers of grain, but exports through Ukrainian ports have stopped due to the war.
According to the German government, Russia is preventing Kyiv from exporting 20 million tons of grain, mainly to North Africa and Asia. Much of it is stored in the port city of Odessa, writes BTA.
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