Jaishankar says Ukraine war has caused fuel and food crisis

Bengaluru, June 9: The Russia-Ukraine war has thrown up a crisis of fuel, food and fertiliser that will lead to hunger situations and have a very significant inflationary impact, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar said on Thursday.

“The implications of the situation in Ukraine show up in what we call a three F crisis — fuel, food and fertiliser. The prices of these three have gone up. They have a very significant inflationary impact,” Jaishankar said during a talk on national security in the eight years of the Narendra Modi government.

The event was organised by the National Institute of Advanced Studies in association with International Studies Network Bangalore in the city.

“In the case of food, they will actually lead to hunger situations. In the case of fertiliser, it will create a cascading problem down the road or so till the next harvest in many countries.”

The minister said the country faced four major challenges in the last two

years. These four issues were Covid-19, tension with China along the Line of Actual Control, the Afghanistan situation and

the Ukraine war.

These four major events showed how something faraway has a direct implication on the well-being of a nation, Jaishankar said.

Speaking about China, the minister said the neighbouring country tried to unilaterally change the status quo on the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh in the northern sector.

On Pakistan, Jaishankar said, “I think we have seen (in the eight years) the degree of clarity that we will not be brought to the table by the pressure of cross-border terrorism.”

Another important achievement of the past eight years of the Modi government was the land boundary agreement with Bangladesh which had an enormous impact on the India-Bangladesh relationship.

The agreement, said Jaishankar, has really opened up huge possibilities for Bangladesh and for India's northeastern states.

Speaking about Myanmar, the minister said the country has a foreign policy engaging the regime there to make it difficult for the Indian insurgent groups to grow.

As a result, there is peace in the northeastern region, he added.