Moscow said on Thursday that sanctions on Russia would have to be reviewed if it were to heed a UN appeal to open access to Ukraine's Black Sea ports so that grain could be exported, according to an Interfax news agency report.
Ukraine, one of the world's biggest grain producers, used to export most of its goods through its seaports, but since Russia sent troops into Ukraine, it has been forced to export by train or via its small Danube River ports.
UN food chief David Beasley appealed on Wednesday to Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying, "If you have any heart at all, please open these ports."
Beasley's World Food Programme feeds some 125 million people and buys 50 percent of its grain from Ukraine.
Interfax quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko as saying: "You have to not only appeal to the Russian Federation but also look deeply at the whole complex of reasons that caused the current food crisis and, in the first instance, these are the sanctions that have been imposed against Russia by the US and the EU that interfere with normal free trade, encompassing food products including wheat, fertilisers and others."
Russia's decision to send its troops into Ukraine almost three months ago has prevented Ukraine from using its main ports on the Black and Azov seas, and cut its grain exports this month by more than half compared to a year ago.
Russia and Ukraine together account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies. Ukraine is also a major exporter of corn, barley, sunflower oil and rapeseed oil, while Russia and Belarus - which has backed Moscow in its intervention in Ukraine and is also under sanctions - account for more than 40 percent of global exports of the crop nutrient potash.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
"Will End Every Single International Crisis": Trump Vows To End Wars If Elected Again "Take Stock Of Policies Inciting Hatred": Russia To US After Trump Attack New UK Defence Minister Visits Ukraine On First Trip Abroad, Pledges More Support Bangladesh Imposes Curfew, Deploys Military As 105 Die In Protests "Jindal Group Executive Showed Porn, Groped Me On Flight": Woman To NDTV Over 300 Indian Students Return Home As 105 Bangladeshis Killed In Protests Joe Biden Is The Best Person To Take On Trump, Says His Campaign Wife Among Two Jailed For Life For Man's Murder In Gurugram: Cops 1,100 Flights Cancelled In US As Microsoft Outage Disrupts Operations Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.