SOCHI, June 3. /TASS/. Western countries "have made a bunch of mistakes," which resulted in the food crisis, and now they are looking for somebody else to pin the blame on, considering Moscow to be the most suitable candidate, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised interview with Rossiya-24 channel on Friday.
"Our partners have made a bunch of mistakes themselves, and now they are looking for someone to blame. And of course, the most convenient candidate in this regard is Russia," he noted referring to the situation with food and fertilizers.
Putin recalled that after Russia launched a special operation in Ukraine, Europe and the US have taken steps that exacerbated the situation in the food and fertilizer sectors. He indicated that Russia accounts for about 25% of the world’s fertilizer production market.
"And say, as for potash fertilizers, as [Belarusian President] Alexander Griroryevich Lukashenko told me - it should be checked of course, but I believe it is true - Russia and Belarus [have] 45% of the global market in potash fertilizers. It a huge amount," he said.
Furthermore, Putin continued, the yield depends on the amount of fertilizers added to the soil.
"As soon as it became clear that there will be no fertilizers of ours on the world market, the prices for both fertilizers and food immediately climbed, as there are no fertilizers, there will be no needed amounts of agricultural products," he explained.
"One thing triggers another, but Russia has nothing to do with it," the president concluded.