The Embassy of the Russian Federation in Ghana has stated that the hikes in food prices and fuel products on the African continent were not because of Russia's military action in Ukraine.

The embassy said that food and energy prices began to rapidly rise already in early 2020 due to systemic miscalculations of the financial and economic policies of Western countries during COVID-19 pandemic.

In sequence of tweets on Thursday, the embassy stated that it could not accept any responsibility for the current challenges facing the global food value chain.

The embassy explained that the hikes in the prices of food was due to its high demand, raw materials and transportation services, in the post-COVID-19 recovery period.

"Western policies have also triggered economic challenges on the African continent for the past two years, so the prices are not rising because of Russia's actions, though the collective West wanted to punish Russia. It punished itself along with the rest of the world," it said.

Referencing that, according to the consolidated list of grain production data published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) following the results of the 2021/2022 season, the volume of grain production in the world at the end of the 2021/2022 agricultural year was expected to reach 2.8 billion tons.

However, the embassy said the hikes in prices should not be attached with the issues of Russia.

"Everyone suffered from this interruptions in supplies and settlements leading to a global shortage of products, and threatened world food security, though activity decreases, at the same time demand increases, prices would rise and that's the reason," it said.

He, therefore, assured that the embassy would continue to fulfill its obligations under international contracts regarding the export of grains, fertilisers, energy carriers and other critical products.