MOSCOW, April 1. /TASS/. Russian food products are quite sufficient to fully meet the country's domestic needs, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel. He added that deliveries to other countries are possible, but only to friendly ones.
"Diverse and delicious Russian food products are enough to fully meet our domestic needs," he wrote.
Medvedev assured that the authorities will continue to provide assistance to farmers as a matter of priority.
"The priority in food supplies is our domestic market. And price control. At the same time, the state will continue large-scale and systematic assistance to farmers," he said.
Medvedev stressed that Russia will sell food and crops only to friendly countries.
"We will supply food and crops only to our friends (fortunately we have a lot of them, and they are not at all in Europe and not in North America). We will sell both for rubles and for their national currency in agreed proportions," the politician wrote.
"We will not supply our products and agricultural products to our enemies, and we will not buy anything from them," he added.
Medvedev emphasized that although Russia has not been buying a number of Western food products since 2014, "the list of products prohibited for import can still be expanded."
Quiet but formidable weapon
Speaking about food security, the deputy head of the Security Council stressed that many countries depend on food supplies from Russia, and this, in his words, is "a quiet but formidable weapon."
"I remember that in my childhood, the USSR bought grain from Canada. It was strange, the largest country buying wheat for dollars. Today, the picture is completely different: Russia is the largest grain producer, along with India and China. And in recent years, the largest exporter of wheat. It so happened that the food security of many countries depends on our supplies. It turns out that our food is our silent weapon. Quiet but formidable," he wrote.
He recalled that the export of Russian agricultural products "exceeds the export of real weapons, it amounted to more than $37 billion last year.".