New U.S. anti-Russia sanctions break rules of the game for all economies: Envoy – Reuters

“Markets see the US government acting unpredictably, creating chaos and panic,” he said, responding to a media question about the new anti-Russian sanctions package, TASS reported.

“The new barriers that affect, among others, gold and industrial exports, violate the existing rules of the game for all economies.”

In his words, “the decision of the United States and its allies to forge tough economic ties with Russia has pushed existing crisis tendencies in the global economy to a climax.” The Russian diplomat added that the United States was also suffering from its own sanctions.

“Consumer price growth here has been the highest in 40 years,” he said.

The recent wave of anti-Russian restrictions from the West imposed on the special military operation in Ukraine has exacerbated the global food crisis, Antonov said.

“With regard to food security, it was the wave of anti-Russian restrictions, imposed by the Western collective led by the United States, that spurred the global food crisis. Its root causes are incompetent macroeconomic measures taken by a number of developed countries, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic,” the embassy’s press service quoted the ambassador as saying.

According to the diplomat, the crisis can only be resolved “through free access of cereals and fertilizers, including Russian ones, to world markets”, he said.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched what Russia calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine in response to a request from the leaders of the two Donbas republics. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow has no intention of occupying Ukrainian territories.

The West responded with sweeping sanctions against Russia. In addition, Western countries have so far supplied billions of dollars worth of weapons and military equipment to Kyiv. Some Western politicians have acknowledged that an economic war is being waged against Russia. Putin said in March that the West’s sanctions policy against Moscow showed all the signs of aggression, with Russian containment a long-term strategy.

He also noted that the problems in the global food market started in February 2020. Putin dismissed claims that Russia blocked grain in Ukrainian ports as a simple bluff.