Putin seeks to achieve two goals with the grain crisis/Getty Images
Sergey Lavrov continues to repeat the propaganda slogans of his master, in particular, during the African tour, which began with the visit of the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry to Egypt.
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Seven poods of Moscow lies
This visit is also important because it is very important for Sergey Lavrov to prove to African leaders that Russia is not involved in the actual provocation of famine, which can occur if Russia continues to interfere with the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea to Turkey and further to the countries of the world that are in great need now in food, and cheap food.
However, it is very difficult to understand how Sergey Lavrov will convince his African interlocutors that Russia does not create a risk of starvation for them, if just the day before his visit and after the signing in Istanbul of agreements on unblocking supplies of Ukrainian grain, the Russian armed forces struck at At first, the Odessa seaport was not even admitted to being involved in this crime.
However, just on the day when Sergei Lavrov left for Africa, both the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that yes, it was Russia that carried out this attack. And they began to justify their next idiotic action.
Because it is impossible to consider a normal situation when a country signing an agreement on unblocking the export of grain, the very next day, shells the port from which this grain should be exported, and also does not admit its involvement in the fact that it bombed the port. But the very next day, when the head of the Foreign Ministry is due to visit, he admits his involvement in the bombing. Well, somehow surprising even for the Russian political leadership.
What did the new Ribbentrop take with him on his African voyage
However, according to Lavrov, one could understand that the Russians are not at all interested in whether it will be possible to export Ukrainian grain from the Black Sea ports. Lavrov explained that the problem of hunger is not at all that Russia started a war against Ukraine. Not at all in the fact that it actually interferes with the transportation of Ukrainian grain to countries that need it. It is not at all that it violates its own obligations when, the day after reaching certain agreements on the export of grain, it begins the bombardment of the Odessa seaport.
And the main reason for the famine, it turns out, is in the West, because the West has imposed sanctions and restrictions against Russia. And in order to avoid hunger (and it is obvious that exactly what Lavrov will say to all African leaders has already said this to the President of Egypt), the West needs to lift its sanctions against Russia.
Although I can honestly say that there have never been any real sanctions that would not allow Russia to export its grain. Russia has always had the opportunity to trade with third countries for its products. And this is only confirmed by the relevant decisions of the European Union.
However, we know very well that Lavrov, like Putin, is not interested in reality, but in propaganda. And it is this propaganda that he will impose on African leaders.
In general, it seems to me that we already understand the real goals of the Russian leadership in Istanbul. Why did they go there at all, why did Sergei Shoigu sign an agreement with representatives of Turkey and the UN? Because they hope in principle that they will be able to export more of their own Russian grain, that the EU will not impose any restrictions on the operations of their banks that are related to food.
And in this way, Russia will be able to demonstrate to the countries of the global South how it takes care of them, and the Russian army will simultaneously do everything possible to prevent Ukraine from exporting its grain, to destroy Ukrainian agriculture, to prevent Ukraine from receiving additional budget revenues.
And then everything will be, it would seem, the way the Russian Federation wants it. Both Africa and Asia will see that Russia is making efforts to ensure that the countries of the global South do not find themselves in a difficult situation. And Ukraine will not be able to export its grain to these countries.
Putin's two erroneous ways
However, it seems to me that all the same, there will not be enough resources, and then Putin will not achieve his other important goal – provoking a migration crisis, which should hit the West, not the South. And here, of course, Putin has a rather difficult choice.
To provoke a migration crisis, he must demonstrate to his last allies in Africa and Asia or countries neutral to the Russian-Ukrainian war that he is willing to starve them just to fight his enemies. And if there is still no famine, the West will not be destabilized, and it will continue to help Ukraine.
What choice the Russian president will make, we will see soon. But I don't think it would be a logical choice, to be honest.
