Russia intends to continue supplying natural gas to Italy. This was stated by Vladimir Putin in a telephone conversation with Mario Draghi. Putin has assured the Italian prime minister that Russia would help prevent a global food crisis if Western sanctions against it are lifted.
The Italian prime minister’s office in Rome said that Mario Draghi and Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation on Thursday, discussing the situation in Ukraine, the food crisis and its impact on poor countries.
Later, the Italian prime minister gave a press conference on the occasion of today’s telephone conversation with the Russian president.
Draghi explained that the conversation was on his initiative, because he felt obliged to do everything possible to prevent a large-scale grain crisis due to the Ukrainian ports blocked by Russia and the export of Ukrainian cereals by sea.
However, the Prime Minister of Italy received an answer that this crisis is due to the sanctions of the United States and the European Union against Russia. In this sense was the Kremlin’s announcement of the conversation – Putin said he would help prevent mass starvation in poor countries that rely on Ukrainian grain, but only if sanctions are lifted.
Draghi said he would continue to try to help unblock Ukrainian grain exports through the country’s Black Sea ports.
The Italian Prime Minister announced that he will also hold talks with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, BNR reports.
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