CROOKS AND THIEVES

Ukraine Journo Confronts Lavrov Over Russia’s Pilfering in Ukraine

“Apart from grain, what else that was stolen from Ukraine has Russia already managed to sell?”

A Ukrainian journalist confronted Russia’s top diplomat over the Kremlin’s thievery in Ukraine at a press conference in Turkey on Wednesday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in Ankara for talks on shipping millions of tons of Ukrainian grain that has been sitting at ports on the Black Sea due to a Russian blockade. U.S. officials have already warned that Moscow has been trying to profit by selling wheat and grain exports stolen from Ukraine, one of the world’s largest exporters of the food staples. “Apart from grain, what else that was stolen from Ukraine has Russia already managed to sell?” the journalist asked Lavrov, apparently referring to reports of widespread looting by Russian troops in Ukrainian cities. Although the reporter spoke clearly in Russian, Lavrov appeared to be taken aback enough by the question that he asked him to repeat it, before suggesting that the reporter must be concerned by stealing because he himself is a thief. Lavrov then launched into a tirade about the Kremlin’s quest to “rid eastern Ukraine of the pressure of a neo-Nazi regime” before insisting the grain can be “freely transported” if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky allows it. Russian officials have claimed Ukraine needs to remove sea mines from around the ports before halted shipments can resume; Ukrainian authorities say Russian forces planted the mines and then blamed the escalating food crisis on Kyiv.

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Allison QuinnNews Editor

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