“We cannot but assess the actions of the European Union as open sabotage of the goals set in the field of food security,” the Russian FM said.
On Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that Russia has shipped 30,000 tons of grain to Kenya as the recently extended Black Sea grain deal “doesn’t work.”
“In a matter of days, a cargo of 30,000 tons of fertilizers will arrive at the port of Mombasa,” he said, adding that this cargo will have “great importance” for Kenyan agriculture.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised free grain and fertilizer to African countries if the agreement brokered by Turkey and the United Nations is not extended.
Regarding the Black Sea grain agreement, Lavrov stressed that everything currently seems to indicate that the deal does not and will not work.
“The Russia-UN memorandum is not fulfilled. The process is progressing very slowly. We cannot but assess the actions of the European Union and its members as open sabotage of the goals set in the field of food security,” Lavrov said.
Although Moscow has possibilities to supply its production outside the memorandum, Lavrov insisted that if the UN were to comply with the stipulations of the agreement “its impact on the food and fertilizer market would be much more positive.”
To date, 30 million tons of agricultural products such as corn and wheat have been exported under the agreement, with China and Spain as the main recipients.
Source: TeleSUR