"Putin Deliberately Created Food Famine... Aiming to Cause Great Chaos in Europe"

"Like in Syria, the plan is to create millions of refugees to send to Europe"
Putin blocks Ukraine grain exports... ultimately causing food price inflation

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia. Photo by AP, Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Se-eun] Claims have been raised that President Vladimir Putin is trying to cause famine in the Middle East and Africa and create chaos in Europe.

On the 22nd (local time), German dpa news agency cited an interview with R?diger von Fritsch, former German ambassador to Russia, with the German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, reporting, "The Kremlin's goal is to generate and influx large-scale refugees to destabilize Europe."

Former Ambassador Fritsch explained, "Putin believes that if grain supplies are cut off, hungry people from the Middle East and Africa will head to Europe, just like the millions of Syrians who fled to Europe to escape the horrors of past wars."

In fact, Ukraine is considered the world's largest grain producer and exporter.

However, since the Russian military invasion blocked the Black Sea, Ukraine has been unable to export grain, which has become a major cause of global food price inflation.

He added, "Putin wants to destabilize Europe through new refugee inflows and increase political pressure so that Western countries abandon their tough stance against Russia," analyzing, "This is Putin's new hybrid war."

According to the German government, the Russian military is currently blocking Ukraine from exporting 20 million tons of grain to North Africa and Asia through the port of Odesa on the Black Sea coast.