Putin Again Warns That Sanctions Will Cause World Hunger To Soar

April 13, 2022 (EIRNS)—At a joint press conference with visiting Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that the economic super-sanctions being wielded against Russia are having some effect on its economy, which are under control, but the impact on poorer countries dependent on Russian and Belarusian fertilizer and food exports will be devastating.

“The blitzkrieg that our ill-wishers hoped to achieve was unsuccessful, of course,” Putin stated. “As it turns out, the Russian economy and its financial system are standing quite firmly on their feet,” he said, but given the fact that the sanctions will continue and intensify, Russia has to prepare to “prioritize certain things.”

He went on to warn of the impact on less protected parts of the world:

“If our Western partners change nothing here, the volume of Russian and Belarusian mineral fertilizers will shrink in the world market. But our industry will find where to send all this, I assure you. Many countries that we have not classified as unfriendly are eager to get Russian and Belarusian fertilizers. There is no productive agriculture without them. And if agriculture is unable to deliver productively, there will not be enough food in the world, in the world market.

“Food prices have already been on the rise, even before the events we are talking about. And the increase is considerable. Prices of certain types of fertilizer are currently three times higher than before the crisis, and they continue to rise.

“Among other things, all of this is linked to Western countries’ mistakes in the energy and gas sphere, because natural gas is the primary component in the production of many fertilizers. All of this constitutes chains that are hard to break today. We were not the ones to create these problems. But the situation will get even worse for our partners, among others, if on top of everything else they aggravate the financial, insurance and transport situation, including maritime freight carriage. After all, the dearth of food or exorbitant world prices will lead to famine in entire regions of the world, and this is inevitable. The next step is new waves of migration, including those heading to European countries.

“I think commonsense should prevail, after all is said and done. And this is my great hope. Otherwise, those who initiated these processes stand to lose the most.”