(Reuters] – Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that efforts by the West and G7 to isolate Moscow had led to an increase in global food scarcity.

The G7 foreign ministers agreed on Saturday that Russia would be strengthened economically and politically, continue to supply arms to Ukraine, as well as work to alleviate the food shortages caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’s neighbour.

In a statement published on the website, the foreign ministry claimed that Russia’s attempts to derail it economically, financially, and logistically are only magnifying economic and food crises.

“It is worth noting that the unilateral actions of Western countries, particularly the Group of Seven, have exacerbated the problem of disrupting financial and logistics chains that feed food supplies to global markets.

Prior to the conflict, Russia and Ukraine accounted for around 29% of the wheat produced for the global market.

Moscow describes its actions in Ukraine as a “special army operation”, to protect Ukraine from fascists and disarm Ukraine. Both the West and Ukraine claim the fascist allegations are baseless, and they agree that the war in Ukraine is an unprovoked attack.

Reporting from Melbourne by Lidia Kelly, editing by Grant McCool