DISINFO: Latvia, Estonia and other Western countries are causing global food shortage
SUMMARY
Latvia, Estonia, Belgium, and the Netherlands are blocking the supply of Russian fertilizers to poor countries and are the cause for the growing global food shortage.
RESPONSE
Recurring disinformation narratives about food shortages.
Russia, without providing evidence, is trying to transfer responsibility for the current food crisis to Western countries. Russia's responsibility for the global food crisis comes as a consequence of the unprovoked and unjustified Russian invasion of Ukraine: naval blockade of Ukrainian posts, bombardment of transport infrastructure and shelling of farming regions. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has destabilised global food markets and is driving food prices up due to increased cost of production, transport and freight insurance. Russia has destroyed substantial food stocks, production, as well as processing and transport capacities in Ukraine.
See also article 15 of the conclusions of the European Council of 20 and 21 October 2022 which states:
Russia, by weaponising food in its war against Ukraine, is solely responsible for the global food security crisis it has provoked. Russia’s war of aggression has triggered disruptions of agricultural production, supply chains and trade that have driven world food and fertiliser prices to unprecedented levels. The EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes have made possible the export of significant volumes of Ukrainian crops, agricultural products and fertilisers to the countries most in need.
EU sanctions “do not target in any way the trade in agricultural and food products, including wheat and fertilisers, between third countries and Russia”. Despite this, in mod-November 2022, some fertiliser cargo ships were stuck in the ports of the Netherlands, Belgium and Estonia due to relations with individuals under the sanctions. Finally, it was agreed that the fertiliser will be shipped to Africa.
See other similar disinformation narratives in our database, such as claims that the EU, not Russia, is behind the energy, food and economic crisis, or that the EU is causing a global food storage by keeping all the grain from Ukraine, or that the US and the EU don’t care about starving many millions of Latin Americans.