Russian President Vladimir Putin denies that Moscow is blocking grain exports from Ukrainian ports and will make several mixed statements on Friday.
Putin believes the best solution would be to transport the grain through Belarus, but only if sanctions against the country end.
– If someone wants to solve the problem of exporting Ukrainian grain – please, the easiest way is through Belarus. Nobody stops it, Putin said in a statement on Russian television on Friday night.
The president described the Russian export ban as a “bluff”, according to Reuters.
At the same time, he guarantees the security of further Ukrainian grain exports.
Can lead to food crisis
Following the invasion of Ukraine, many fear that the lack of grain exports could lead to a global food crisis.
Russia denies this.
Without access to Ukrainian grain, it looks dark for poor countries that are often hit by drought and famine.
Russian forces control the entire coastline of Ukraine along the Azov Sea, preventing Ukraine from exporting maps from the country. Especially in the port city of Odesa, large quantities of grain are stored.
The president claims that there are dozens of foreign vessels in the blocked ports and that others are trying to blame the lack of exports to Russia.
“The situation will worsen because the British and Americans have imposed sanctions on our fertilizer,” Putin said, according to Reuters.
The EU recently introduced a sixth sanctions package against the warring country, but none of the sanctions include Russian wheat or artificial fertilizers.
Refuses to block
On Friday, Putin met with Senegalese President Macky Sall.
Sall is the chairman of the African Union and thanked Putin for a warm welcome and for what he describes as a pleasant meeting between the two leaders.
In a post on Twitter Sall writes that Putin has now expressed a willingness to facilitate Ukrainian grain exports.
– Russia is ready to secure exports of wheat and fertilizers. I urge all partners to lift the sanctions against wheat and fertilizers, it says in the post.
Africa is heavily dependent on grain supplies from both Russia and Ukraine.
Western sanctions are said to be the reason why Russian authorities have imposed restrictions on grain exports.
According to Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the president is said to have told Sall the “real reason” that large quantities of grain were not allowed to leave Ukrainian ports.
– No one is blocking these ports, at least not from the Russian side, Peskov is said to have said.
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