President Putin: Russia can replace Ukrainian grain and provide it for free to the poorest countries in Africa
(Baonghean.vn) - The Russian Federation can replace Ukrainian grain on a commercial basis and provide it free of charge to the poorest countries in Africa, the Russian President announced on July 27.
Russia is ready to supply Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic and Eritrea with 25-50 thousand tons of grain each and transport it free of charge, Putin said.
"Russia exported 11.5 million tons of grain to Africa in 2022, and in the first six months of this year alone it supplied almost 10 million tons. And this despite the illegal sanctions imposed against us, which seriously hamper the supply of Russian food, complicate transportation, logistics, insurance and bank settlements," - said Russian President Putin. "We understand the importance of ensuring uninterrupted food supplies to Africa. This is important for socio-economic development and maintaining political stability, so we are paying and will continue to pay special attention to the supply of wheat, barley, corn and other grains to our African friends," - he expressed. In addition, according to the Russian President, over the past two years, exports to Africa of Russian crude oil, petroleum products, liquefied natural gas have increased 2.6 times.
President Putin also accused Western countries of hindering Russia's grain and fertilizer supplies. "Western countries are hindering the Russian Federation from supplying grain to African countries and blaming Russia for this," Putin stressed. "The Russian Federation participated in the grain deal, including because of the conditions stipulated in it on lifting restrictions on grain and fertilizer supplies, but the conditions were not met," the Russian President added.
President Putin also declared that his country believes the African Union (AU) will gain full membership in the Group of 20 leading developed and emerging economies (G20) next September./.
