UN, September 23 The European Commission could buy excess grain from Ukraine, which creates competition in Europe, and send it to Africa, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
«If the European Commission spends tens and tens of billions of dollars on Ukraine, why is it grain that Ukraine wants to sell, but the EU countries do not want because competition — let the European Commission buy this grain and send it to Africa,» the minister said during a press conference following the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.
On September 15, the European Commission decided not to extend restrictions on the import of four types of agricultural products from Ukraine to several EU border countries, but obliged Kiev to introduce export control measures. After this, the authorities of Slovakia, Hungary and Poland announced that they were extending the ban unilaterally. In particular, Hungary extended the ban on a national basis; 24 products were included in the list of prohibited imports. In addition to grains, the list included various types of meat, poultry, eggs, honey, vegetables and wine. In this regard, Ukraine filed a complaint with the WTO. In response, three EU countries announced that they would boycott meetings of the coordination platform on Ukrainian grain.