UNITED NATIONS, September 19. /TASS/. The global food shortage was triggered by the Western world’s ruthless and biased policies, as well as their underestimation of Russia’s role on commodities markets, the country’s Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya told TASS in the run-up to the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week that will kick off on September 20.
"Indeed, there was much overemotional talk about a looming famine of unprecedented proportions in countries that are most vulnerable from a socio-economic viewpoint," he said, adding that "the issue was about states from the so-called ‘Global South’ where governments faced problems with the purchases of food and fertilizers among other issues," and that "Western countries rushed to blame everything on Russia, though it quickly became clear that the problem was of a different nature."
"Due to a totally short-sighted macroeconomic, energy and later sanctions policy by Western states against Russia, the markets that were seriously hit by COVID-related restrictions, are facing a severe shortage of food, whereas the market for fertilizers has virtually been frozen," Nebenzya said. "The reason was the ruthless and biased policy and the underestimation of the share and role that our country plays on the world’s commodities markets," the diplomat added.
Those suffering are the neediest, he noted. "Moreover, the majority of crisis factors had emerged long before the beginning of the special military operation [in Ukraine]," Nebenzya concluded.