Antonov accuses the US of “blatantly deceiving” by accusing Russia of “using starvation as a weapon of war”

May 18. (EUROPE PRESS) –

Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoli Antonov, has accused Washington of “blatantly deceiving” with its statements about the extension of the agreement to export Ukrainian grain and Russian fertilizer through Black Sea waters.

For Antonov, “the statements of the administration’s representatives are outrageous,” referring to the comments of the deputy spokesman for the US State Department, Vedant Patel, who on Thursday celebrated the extension but accused Russia of “using people’s hunger as a weapon in their war against Ukraine”.

For Moscow, this means “politicizing the successful completion of the Istanbul consultations.” “They accuse us of supposedly creating artificial obstacles in the way of grain shipments to the poorest states,” criticized the ambassador, lamenting that “the infamous theses on the militarization of hunger came back into play.”

“Instead of empty slogans clearly aimed at “pricking” Russia, we would recommend that Washington work more actively to correct the imbalances in the world food market that have arisen due to its unilateral sanctions and political demands,” Antonov said.

Although these days an agreement was reached for its extension, the Russian authorities have repeatedly expressed their dissatisfaction with the pact, considering that, while Ukrainian interests are respected, the exports of its fertilizers are not being fulfilled as stated in the original agreement, reached in July 2022.

Thus, this was one of the main obstacles to overcome just two months ago, when Turkey, the United Nations, Russia and Moscow once again achieved a new extension of the agreement, which was already on the verge of expiring, ‘in extremis’. While the UN assured that the extension was for 120 days, Moscow defended that it was only 60.