Russia slams sanctions and seeks to blame West for food crisis

With the war grinding into its fourth month, world leaders have ramped up calls for solutions

Children walk among buildings destroyed during fighting in Mariupol in Ukraine (AP)

Moscow was pressing the West to lift sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine, seeking to shift the blame for a growing food crisis that has been worsened by Kyiv’s inability to ship millions of tons of grain and other agricultural products due to the conflict.

Britain immediately accused Russia of “trying to hold the world to ransom”, insisting there would be no sanctions relief, and a top US diplomat blasted the “sheer barbarity, sadistic cruelty and lawlessness” of the invasion.