Putin blames global food insecurity on 'mistakes' of developed countries

The current situation in the global food market has worsened of late due to the "mistakes" made by Western countries in disrupting supply chains, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.

"As you know, the state of play on the global food market has grown considerably worse in the last two years. Exactly in the last two years. It was two years ago that the mistakes made by developed countries in their economic, energy and food policies led to a rapid spike in food prices around the world," Putin told a government meeting on agriculture.

The situation has deteriorated further in recent weeks, as, despite the shortage of food reserves around the world, those countries still decided to impose sanctions on Russia and thus disrupt supply chains, Putin said.

"The operations of companies and logistics of exports of fertilizers from Russia and Belarus are being blocked. And the West's own production of fertilizers is decreasing due to high natural gas prices, which too is a result of the activities of our partners in the West," he added.

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after recognizing the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk as "independent republics". In response, the European Union (EU) rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow, which includes airspace closures and restrictive measures targeting numerous Russian officials and entities, media, and financial institutions.