Putin seeks to cause world hunger, migration crisis in Russia: Portnikov on Russia's withdrawal from grain agreement

Journalist Vitaly Portnikov said this on Espreso TV. 

“Putin needs to cause a famine in the world, but in such a way that it does not affect the reputation of the Russian Federation, so that the countries of the Global South cannot believe that Russia is to blame for the famine,” he noted.

According to Vitaly Portnikov, in this way, Vladimir Putin is trying to achieve the migration crisis in Europe and the change of European governments. This is an important stake for him in the war against Ukraine. Since he cannot lose the favor of the countries of the Global South, he decided to shift the blame for the famine to Ukraine.

• On October 29, the Russian Federation "suspended" its obligations within the framework of the agreement on the safe export of grain by Ukraine. At the same time, Zelenskyy said that Russia sought to terminate the agreement back in September.

• The next day, NATO and the EU called on the Russian Federation to restore the validity of the grain agreement. 

• On November 1, the start of the Danube Grain Route project was announced.

• On the same day, Ukraine, the UN and Turkey agreed to restore the "grain corridor", but demanded additional security guarantees from the Russian Federation.

• On November 2, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced the start of the "grain corridor".

• On November 5, international policy expert Ramis Yunus said that the Russian démarche is primarily aimed at Turkey.