WASHINGTON, May 19. /TASS/. Unwise macroeconomic moves of western countries have ruined the global food security, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on Wednesday, adding that problems in this area started long before the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine.

"Food security had been ruined for several years by unwise macroeconomic steps of the collective West fueled by the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. In other words, problems emerged long before the beginning of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine," Antonov was quoted as saying by the press service of the embassy on its Telegram channel.

The food crisis deteriorated after a wave of "unilateral and illegitimate anti-Russia sanctions that undermined western governments’ credibility because of unpredictability of their actions, as well as broke supply chains and interrupted international financial flows," he said, noting that statements made by western nations that "their bans do not cover supplies of food and fertilizers are deceit" as "sanctions in the financial and transport areas directly influence the situation on global food markets."

That said, "Russia remains committed to its obligations on international contracts regarding export supplies of agriculture products, fertilizers, energy and other important goods," the diplomat stressed.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said earlier on Wednesday that the global community would not be able to fully solve the issue of food crisis without Russian and Belarusian fertilizers, as well as without Ukrainian grain. Russian products and fertilizers should have full and unlimited access to global markets, he noted.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation, after which the US and its allies slapped sanctions against Russian persons and legal entities, as well as sped up arms supplies to Kiev.