New sanctions against Russia will only exacerbate the situation at global markets, the harvest will be more modest while prices will go up, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with the Russia-1 TV channel on Friday, Trend reports citing TASS.
"This will exacerbate the situation at global fertilizer markets which means the harvest prospects will also be much more modest. Meaning, the prices will only climb," he stated commenting on the new restrictions. "This is an absolutely short-sighted, erroneous, I would say, simply a stupid policy which leads into a dead end," the Russian leader added.
The head of state noted that earlier Western countries introduced sanctions on Russian fertilizers yet "realizing what’s going on, Americans lifted the sanctions while Europeans didn’t."
As the Russian president said, in contacts with him, European leaders themselves say that something needs to be done in order to resolve food problems. "While today they only exacerbated this situation," he concluded.