Its existence and strength (of a Commonwealth of Orthodox States) would restrain the world from its headlong rush into catastrophe. It could lead to the regeneration of the spiritually and morally decaying Western world. This Commonwealth could become the breadbasket of the Third World. Its huge natural resources could stop starvation and let it know of Orthodoxy…

Orthodoxy and the post-1989 World
Orthodox Christianity and the English Tradition, Chapter 29, May 1990

On 2 February Arkady Dvorkovich, Deputy President of the Government of the Russian Federation, stated on the ‘News on Saturday’ programme on the national television channel ‘Rossiya 1’, his certainty of Russia’s ability to feed the world.

‘Before the Revolution Russia fed the whole world and there is every chance of doing this now’. Dvorkovich noted that the national agriculture could yield huge crops. ‘We have a lot of good land, though it does need good husbandry and the climate is not easy, but even with this climate huge amounts of cereals can be grown’, said the Vice-Premier. He added that the agricultural produce would also need to be thoroughly processed.

According to the ITAR-TASS News Agency, the Vice-Premier cited Tatarstan and the Tambov Region as examples, but regretted that for the moment these were exceptions which had yet to become general. Dvorkovich stated that since joining the World Trade Organisation, Russia had gradually been implementing a new system of agricultural support, which would be fully operational within two or three years. He added, ‘There will be many jobs in this sector and people will be well paid’.