EU: Blame Russia, not sanctions, for global food crisis

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s top diplomat insisted Monday it’s not the bloc’s sanctions that are responsible for the looming global food crisis, and pledged to work out solutions to ensure exports of food and fertilizers could reach Africa. As part of its economic sanctions, the EU has imposed several packages of sanctions but has not banned exports of food or fertilizers to non-EU nations. The chairman of the African Union, Senegal’s President Macky Sall, has told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the fighting in Ukraine and Western sanctions had worsened food shortages. The war led by Russia against Ukraine has been preventing some 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain from getting to the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Asia.