Western sanctions on Russia hurting third world: Ranil Wickremesinghe

Western sanctions introduced against Russia will not bring it down to its knees but the third world countries will suffer, Sri Lanka’s acting president, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Monday.

"Do you think sanctions will help? It will only drag the prices up. […] Let us look at the sanctions that are being imposed and ask ourselves if this is necessary. The sanctions won’t bring Russia to its knees, but it will bring the rest of the third world to its knees," he said at an international panel discussion on preventing hunger and famine as quoted by Doordarshan.

According to the acting President the sanctions affect such countries as Sri Lanka where food products are not generally accessible. "Our issue in Sri Lanka is partly self-made and partly due to the global crisis," he said, adding that "a global crisis and an internal crisis both have come together and brought us to a level where many estimate that as much as 6 million people are facing malnutrition."


Wickremesinghe felt that the anti-Russian sanctions and the events in Ukraine caused the global food and fuel crises.

Wheat and corn prices have soared since the beginning of the year. A UN Security Council meeting on May 21 revealed that global wheat stocks would last for only ten weeks and the situation was worse than it had been in 2007 and 2008.