Russia helps Latin America in food and energy security

MOSCOW, 8 Oct — PRIME. Russia is helping Latin American countries in the areas of food and energy security, despite Western sanctions, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

“We continue to assist Latin Americans in ensuring their food and energy security. The supply of our fertilizers does not stop – in January-June alone, Russian companies shipped them in the amount of $ 3.7 billion,” he said in an interview with the Arguments and Facts newspaper.

According to him, the trade turnover between Russia and the region in the first six months of this year increased by 27% compared to the same period last year and approached $11 billion.

Lavrov added that the volume of trade only with Brazil, the leading partner in the region, increased by 50.6% in January-May compared to the same period in 2021.

The minister stressed that Latin America is a friendly and promising region for Russia.

“A political dialogue has been established, which continues today, despite pressure from the US and the EU … We speak and, I’m sure, we hear each other,” the Russian Foreign Minister added.

He considers it quite natural that not a single Latin American country joined the anti-Russian sanctions, neither in 2014 nor now.

“We are ready for the further development of relations … with all our Latin American friends, to the extent that they are ready for this. Our approach here is absolutely sincere, we do not put them in front of a choice -” with whom they should be. “We have our own” doctrine Monroe “was not and is not. We are for equal, mutually beneficial cooperation on a pragmatic, de-ideologized basis. For building bridges, not erecting walls,” the minister concluded.

About a third of the countries of the Organization of American States (OAS) did not support the resolution condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine, among them – Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Mexico.

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Honduras, Dominica, Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines have not supported calls for the Russian government to stop hostilities and withdraw military forces and equipment from Ukrainian territory, as well as condemning alleged human rights violations.