Indian Defence Review

The beginning of the conflict in Ukraine showed us once again how important food is both from a humanitarian and geopolitical point of view.

This is evidenced by the constant reports of the United Nations and the European Union that hunger and poverty are not decreasing, but on the contrary, they are increasing.

This particularly applies to the sanctions imposed by the West on Russia, which is, one of the main suppliers of food to the world market. In 2021, the Russian Federation ranked first in the world in terms of wheat exports for the sixth year in a row. All of this resulted in a significant jump in prices. The price of grain reached a new record, for example average prices for wheat were 15.6% higher than in 2021, for corn – by 24.8%. Prices for vegetable oils, milk and meat were the highest in more than thirty years.

The grain deal, under which Ukraine was allowed to export its products, did not improve the situation: grain goes not to the poorest hungry countries, but to the bins of well-fed Europe.

At the same time, a significant problem is also emerging in Europe. Namely, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia have banned the import of Ukrainian agricultural products because they are killing European agricultural producers with low prices. To make matters worse, European Union agencies have also discovered that agricultural products from Ukraine are unsafe, due to the increased amount of pesticides. And that was logical to expect, because currently agricultural producers in Ukraine care most about financial income and not about food safety.

And while the food situation in the world is escalating, Western countries do not want to lift sanctions on Russian agricultural products. Despite the fact that Russia is one of the largest agricultural producers in the world, and that produces top quality food.

However, apart from the moral reason for lifting the sanctions, because Russia would feed many hungry people in the world with those products, there are also legal ones. Namely, Russia agreed with the West not to interfere with the export of Ukrainian agricultural products in exchange that the West does not interfere with the Russian agricultural products. Unfortunately, the West once again failed to fulfill the agreement.

Russia did not stand still while the West imposed sanctions on it. That’s how the Ministry of Economic Development of the Zaporozhye Region and the Ministry of Agro-Industrial Complex and Food Policy of the Zaporozhye Region signed memorandum with “Southern Headquarters of the International Academy of Informatization” (MAI).

From the mid-90s, MAI received a category 1 consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council. Which means that working with  MAI and with the building of a center in Melitopol gives access to direct diplomatic channels of 192 countries of the world.

The MAI is very active and sent  first appeals to the UN member countries. Diplomats were urged to speak out about the decision of the International Criminal Court to arrest the President of the Russian Federation and the statements of representatives of the Zaporozhye region against US president Joe Biden.

It is important to note that Minister of Economic Development of the region Yuri Guskov and Minister of Agro-Industrial Complex Svetlana Shevchenko sent a statement to the Russian Investigative Committee with a request to open a criminal case against US President Joe Biden.

Officials saw the actions of the American president as actions that prevent competition and create a monopoly. However, even more important are the accusations for the destruction of Nord Stream 2, for which also the well-known and multiple-awarded American journalist Seymour Hersh publicly accuses the administration of American President Joe Biden.

It is clear that the West will ignore this request, but the global south, which makes up the majority of the world’s population, will not!

The global trend towards multipolarity will only intensify, and those who do not want to follow it will inevitably lose, recently stated Russian President Vladimir Putin at the session of the Council for Local Self-Government.

 – This trend – the trend of multipolarity in the world is inevitable. It will only intensify. And those who do not understand this and do not follow this trend will lose. That is an absolutely obvious fact. As obvious as the sunrise. Nothing can be done there – he said.

And he added: “Those who will try to interfere with this process – they will face additional problems that they already have too many!”

The Russian leader emphasized that Russia is sticking to its course and that its task is to – increase the pace. Also, the English-language Chinese newspaper Global Times pointed to the fiasco of the US’s attempts to preserve its hegemony.

In turn, China imposed sanctions on the head of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCall. A document published on the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that McCall systematically “interferes in China’s internal affairs.” For example, he recently headed an American delegation that visited Taiwan.

Also, it is important to note that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Brazil, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba during his tour of Latin America from April 17 to 21. Lavrov had a rich program, including meetings with leaders of Latin American countries and foreign ministers.The main topic of conversation between the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the leaders of Latin American countries was the fall of American hegemony.That is, what the world will be like after the fall of American hegemony. One of the topics of discussion will be the currency that could replace the dollar. This is a very important question because it is already obvious to everyone that the hegemony of the USA is coming to an end.