Alwaght- Russia accused the US of creating a food shortage in Ukraine and elsewhere by depriving the country of grain supply.
Western countries have accused Russia of imposing an embargo on Ukrainian ports, causing a decline in its grain exports, the Kremlin, however, refuted the accusation.
Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday the West only had itself to blame for the brewing food crisis due to problems getting Ukraine's grain out to world markets.
"We categorically reject these accusations and, on the contrary, accuse Western countries that they have taken a number of illegal actions that led to this," Peskov told reporters.
"They (the West) must cancel those illegal decisions that prevent the chartering of ships, that prevent the export of grain, and so on" so that supplies can resume, Peskov insisted.
Russia and Ukraine jointly produce one third of the world’s grain.
Russia’s defense ministry had already said it would let foreign ships leave ports on the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, according to state news agency Interfax.
A safety corridor, which was due to open Thursday, would allow ships to leave Mariupol via the Sea of Azov port as well as Kherson and Odesa on the Black Sea, the report said.
The Russian foreign ministry added that five foreign ships were able to leave Mariupol.
The ministry also said the US and the EU had decided to send 20 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain destined for African and the Middle Eastern countries to silos in Europe, instead.
According to UN reports, worldwide 36 countries supply half of their required grain from Ukraine and Russia. Some of the countries include Lebanon, Syria and Yemen in the Middle East, as well as Somalia and Congo in Africa.
