Medvedev Rejects Allegations That Russia Is Responsible For Global Food Crisis, Medvedev: How To Transport Wheat If Sanctioned?

Wheat farm in Rostov, Russia. (Wikimedia Commons / Vadim Anokhin)

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said Western accusations that Russia created a global food crisis were a lie, saying the situation had worsened in previous years.

"To improve food security around the world, to optimize the food situation, we need to abandon reciprocal sanctions, and prices will start to fall," Medvedev said in an interview with Al Jazeera television, TASS reported on June 3.

Commenting on Western attempts to blame the crisis on Russia, the Russian official replied: "This is a lie."

"The food situation on the planet started to deteriorate about five or seven years ago. This is for many reasons, macroeconomic miscalculations, poor harvests, droughts, climate change, decisions made by some governments that are sometimes not right. That's when it all started," he explained.

Furthermore, the man who had served as President of Russia said Russia was ready to export wheat, but it must be exempted from any sanctions. It is known that sanctions limiting Russia have put many countries that depend on Moscow's wheat at risk of food shortages.

"They (Western countries) want us to export wheat, for example, so they can hold it after that, or what?" Medvedev said, describing this scenario as "impossible."

In his words, the global food situation has worsened "as a result of sanctions imposed by the Western world."

"They told us to 'continue exporting', but, at the same time, our commercial vessels are not being serviced, and efforts are being made to seize our property," he explained.

"The question is how are we going to transport it and whether it will be sanctioned. So, in this case, the ball is in their court now, in the Western court," concluded Medvedev.