Blinken: Sanctions against Russia should hasten end of war in Ukraine

Western sanctions against Russia are designed to accelerate the cessation of military aggression against Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the food ministerial meeting in Berlin, Report informs referring to the website of the US State Department.

“And again, to be absolutely clear about this, from day one, as we imposed sanctions on Russia for its aggression against Ukraine, we exempted from those sanctions food, food products, fertilizer, and also things necessary to move them out of Russia, including insurance and shipping,” he said.

“Russia itself has been playing terrible games with its own food, imposing its own export controls on itself, putting quotas on, deciding when and where it’s going to make food available for political reasons. As I said before, there is nothing preventing the export of food, food products, fertilizer from Russia except for Russia itself. And the only thing that is preventing the export of food from Ukraine, the breadbasket of Europe, is Russia.”