Russia has demonstrated a willingness to use global food security for its own political purposes in order to present itself as a "smart player" and blame the West for all its failures.
However, russia's attempt to ease sanctions proves that these restrictive measures are really tough. This was announced on Twitter by the British Ministry of Defense.
On May 25, russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said that the occupiers were ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for ships carrying products on the Black Sea in exchange for lifting sanctions.
He also said that Ukraine should demine the area around the port of Odessa to allow the passage of ships.
The British Ministry of Defense noted that this request to Ukraine is in line with the basic principle of russia's messaging strategy: to provide alternative narratives, although not convincing, to complicate the audience's understanding.
Ukraine has planted naval mines only because of the continuing real threat of russian naval landings.
We will remind, the russian blockade interferes with export of foodstuff from Ukraine. This, in turn, threatens millions of people around the globe with malnutrition and hunger.
Russia has said it wants sanctions lifted in exchange for unblocking Ukrainian seaports. However, the Office of the President of Ukraine stated that this is direct blackmail.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on every politician, before talking about lifting sanctions to save children from starvation, to come to Ukraine to look at the dead children and talk to parents whose children were raped by the russian military.