Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday denied any responsibility for Russia risk of a global food crisis by hosting his Indonesian counterpart, Joko Widodo, whose country is taking over the rotating G20 presidency.
“We did not put any restrictions on either the export of fertilizers or food products,” Putin said, welcoming Widodo to the Kremlin a day after the Indonesian president’s visit to Ukraine.
Putin has accused Russia of imposing Western sanctions that, especially on owners of fertilizer companies, make it difficult to ship some products internationally.
Russia “also does not put obstacles to the export of Ukrainian wheat,” Putin said, adding that Russia “is in constant contact” with the UN body in charge of this issue.
criticism of NATO
In addition, the Russian president today denounced NATO anchored “in the Cold War” and assured that “nothing has changed” regarding Russian military plans in Ukraine after Allied chief Jens Stoltenberg urged him to “immediately end” the war.
“NATO is a vestige of a bygone era, cold war. In this regard, we were always told that it had changed, that it was now more of a political union, but everyone was looking for reasons and opportunities to promote it as a military organization,” Putin told the Russian press during his visit to Turkmenistan. .
Putin, who thus responded to a flurry of criticism at the allied summit in Madrid, said that the unipolar world he promotes West this is an anachronism and a danger to the international system, which is why the Kremlin is committed to working with the UN, the G20 and the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
Of course, he was ready for a dialogue with the West on issues of arms control and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or the stability of energy and food markets.
The goal remains the same: Ukraine
As for the allies’ call for Putin to order the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory Ukraine”democratic and sovereign state,” the Russian leader replied that “nothing has changed.”
“Nothing to say. The ultimate goal has been announced – the liberation of Donbass, the protection of these people and the creation of conditions that guarantee the security of Russia itself. That’s all,” he explained.
As for the timing, Putin considered it “wrong” to talk about it and recalled that everything depends on the “intensity” of the fighting, when the Kremlin thinks “first of all” about reducing losses in the ranks of the Russian army.
“Of course, I am the Supreme Commander, but I still did not graduate from the Academy of the General Staff,” he said.
Putin believed that the Western powers did not seek to protect Ukrainians, but rather to satisfy their own interests, “to confirm their role in the world, to confirm not their leadership, but their hegemony and, literally, their imperialist ambitions.”
Therefore, if Moscow did not take action in the face of Western plans to turn Ukraine into a “bridgehead” in “anti-Russia”, its country would always have to live by “this sword of Damocles.”
(According to AFP and EFE)
Source: RPP
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