MOSCOW, March 28. /TASS/. Brussels freely acknowledges that sanctions against Russia undermine global food security, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing.
"In Brussels they are trying to openly fool EU citizens by describing the prohibitive measures against Russian and Belarusian agricultural products as "decisive" actions to prevent destabilization of the EU market," the diplomat said commenting on the proposals of the European Commission (EC) to raise duties on grains, oilseeds, and their byproducts imported from Russia and Belarus into the EU.
However, the EC itself "stresses that the choice in favor of prohibitive tariffs rather than standard sanctions is allegedly prompted by a benevolent desire not to interfere with the transit of Russian grain to third countries," Zakharova noted.
"In fact, Brussels is essentially openly admitting that, despite all the statements to the contrary, the sanctions regime which is in force against Russia undermines global food security, since EU restrictions deliberately interfere with our agricultural exports," Zakharova said.
The diplomat noted that for the past several months, Russia has been observing "the EC’s frantic attempts to reduce the rampant discontent among European farmers who are suffering from Brussels’ ill-conceived policies and unilateral sanctions against Russia, which are hitting the EU economy and its citizens."
"They are trying everything except righting their wrongs. Next in line is Russian grain supplied to the EU," Zakharova said.
She noted that President of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen, "presents the proposed increase in duties on Russian and Belarusian grain as a means to minimize the growing risk for markets and farmers of EU member countries."
According to Zakharova, Russia has some free advice for the European Commission: "The introduction of prohibitive duties on Ukrainian grain would be guaranteed to protect the market of EU member countries from its oversupply, make European farmers happy and ensure uninterrupted exports from Ukraine to third countries in need of food."
"However, this is hampered by the reluctance of the Western agricultural lobby to let supplies of cheap and super-profitable Ukrainian agricultural products slip away. This relates to the question of whose interests the von der Leyen and Company corporation actually serves. Certainly not the interests of European farmers," she stated.
The diplomat cited EC statistics on imports of grains, oilseeds and their byproducts into the EU in 2023: 4.2 million tons From Russia, a mere 5.5% of total EU imports of products in this category from third countries; the share of such imports from Belarus was 0.8%.
In the meantime, according to the diplomat, "over the past year, about 41 million tons of these products, or 53% of all EU agricultural imports in this segment," were exported from Ukraine through solidarity corridors alone.
"Nevertheless, desperate farmers who demand limiting the import of cheap Ukrainian agricultural goods, which provokes food dumping and creates risks of ruining farms, are going unheard in Brussels," Zakharova concluded.