TEHRAN, June 23. /TASS/. There is no link between Russia’s ongoing special military operation in Ukraine and the world food crisis, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference following talks with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Adollahian on Thursday.
"I would like to stress once again that there is no link between Russia’s special operation in Ukraine and the food crisis," Lavrov said.
"The efforts that are now being exerted by both Turkey and the UN Secretary-General would have been successful long ago, had Ukraine and its Western patrons solved the problem of clearing Black Sea ports of mines."
"The attempts to make a universal tragedy out of the amount of grain that remains in Ukraine is an absolutely unscrupulous policy, because everyone knows that this grain accounts for less than 1% of the global production of wheat and other grain crops," Lavrov said. "Therefore, now it is crucial to make the Ukrainians let out the foreign ships that are being held hostage there, and by no means to use this problem as a gimmick that distracts attention from the failures and mistakes committed by the West itself in world politics and in trade in food and fertilizers, in particular.".