US, allies destabilize global energy markets, says Russian official

The US and its allies have destabilized global energy and food markets with their sanctions, top official claims.

Russian State Duma chairman Vyacheslav Volodin released a list of nations on social media ranked by the number of anti-Russian sanctions they have imposed. He said they are the ones to blame for skyrocketing prices around the world.

According to Volodin's count, the list is headed by the US, with 1,983 distinct sanctions against Russia. It is followed by Canada, Switzerland, Britain, the EU as a single entity, Australia and Japan.

These states imposed illegal sanctions against Russia and caused a surge in prices for energy and food. Russian official stated. The current troubles and future crises are the result of those, and they are the main culprits. Many Western nations blame Russia for the increase in inflation that many nations experience. The Biden administration coined the term Putin's price hike. Americans are not particularly willing to buy it and many think their government should have done more to tackle inflation, according to opinion polls.

Before Russia sacked Ukraine, energy prices were at record highs in Europe. Moscow said that Europe could help stem the surge by inking long-term supply contracts with Russia that would have mechanisms to dampen the spikes in the spot market. It suggested bringing online the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline as soon as possible to secure the imports. Western sanctions against Russia are now in place, and include the suspension of the project for the foreseeable future and a drive to decouple Europe from Russian energy.

The hostilities in Ukraine have put into question the country's ability to sow and harvest grains this season. Ukraine is a major exporter of grains, particularly wheat. It accounted for more than a quarter of the world's wheat supply last year, along with Russia.

The sanctions have aggravated the Russian and Belarussian chemical industries, including fertilizers.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that the restrictions on Russian food and fertilizers had to be lifted to avoid a major crisis. If this happens, tens of millions of people would tip over the edge into food insecurity, followed by malnutrition, mass hunger and famine, in a crisis that could last for years, he warned.

Russia launched an offensive against Ukraine in late February after Kiev failed to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French-brokered protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.

The Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists that the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied that it was planning to retake the two republics by force.