Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, denied suggestions that his country was to blame for the world food crisis while on a diplomatic offensive in Egypt.
In a Cairo address to Arab League ambassadors, he claimed that Western countries were misrepresenting the effects of sanctions on world food security.
He charged that the Western world was attempting to impose its supremacy on others.
After that, Mr. Lavrov would travel to three African countries to mobilize support amid opposition to the war.
Before that, Mr. Lavrov spoke with Sameh Shoukry, his Egyptian colleague.
Russia has strong links with Egypt and provides wheat, weaponry, and – before the invasion of Ukraine – a significant amount of visitors.
In a joint news conference following their discussions, Mr. Lavrov claimed that the West was prolonging the conflict despite knowing “what and whose end it will be.”
For Mr. Lavrov, it is the beginning of a quick trip to Africa that will also take him to Ethiopia, Uganda, and Congo-Brazzaville.
Before his journey, local newspapers published a piece by Mr. Lavrov in which he claimed that his nation had “sincerely helped Africans in their struggle for emancipation from the colonial yoke.”
Russia valued the “balanced approach” taken by Africans on the Ukrainian crisis, he continued.
The claim that Russia was exporting starvation was denied by Mr. Lavrov in his article, and he attributed it to Western propaganda.
He continued by saying that the coronavirus pandemic had caused “bad trends” in the global food market, which had been compounded by Western sanctions against Russia.
Grain shortages brought on by Russia’s war in Ukraine are severely affecting a large portion of the Arab world and Africa.
After Russia struck targets in the port of Odesa on Saturday, a historic agreement to restore Ukraine’s grain shipments is in jeopardy.
