SOCHI, June 3. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said statements that Russia is preventing shipments of grain from Ukrainian ports are untrue.
"That’s bluster," he said in an interview to Rossiya-1 television, when asked to comment on the statements.
The head of the Russian state also spoke about the volumes of the commodity allegedly stranded in these ports. He said "about 800 million tons of grain and wheat" are produced annually in the world.
"Now we are being told that Ukraine is ready to export 20 million tons. Twenty million tons compared to what is produced in the world - 800 million tons - is that much? That’s 2.5%," he said. "But if we proceed from the fact that wheat makes up only 20% of the total volume of food in the world <...> that means that 20 million tons of Ukrainian wheat is 0.5%. That’s nothing."
He said Kiev’s real exports are lower. Putin said US officials say that Ukraine could export about 6 million tons of wheat.
"According to our Agriculture Ministry, this is not 6, but about 5 million tons. But let it be 6," he said. "And there’s - according to our Agriculture Ministry - 7 million tons of corn. We understand that that’s not much."
He said Russia in the current crop year will export about 37 million tons of grain.