Humble turnip, Vladimir Putin and West: ‘Our level of harvest…’

Vladimir Putin: The Russian President made the comments while addressing the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the West should come to Russia for vegetables as it faces a massive food security crisis, in an apparent jibe at the United Kingdom. The Russian president remarks come amid Western sanctions imposed on Moscow following Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine last year in February.

Russia-Ukraine War: Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, speaks as head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin sits.(AP)

"Foreign analysts predicted us a depression and a decline in the consumer sector, they promised empty store shelves, a massive shortage of goods, and the failure of the service sector," Vladimir Putin said while addressing the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, targeting British minister Therese Coffey, who had said last month that Britons should prefer seasonal, home-grown turnips rather than getting imported tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in supermarkets.

“Turnip is a good product, but they would also probably have to go for turnips to Russia, because our level of the harvest, after all, significantly exceeds those figures of our neighbours in Europe,” Vladimir Putin further said. He also urged Russian billionaires to invest in new technology, production facilities and enterprises to invigorate Russian's economy amid sanctions saying that "there are even more opportunities for business development and expansion, and Russian business should not miss this."

This comes as a UN-mandated investigative body said that Russia committed wide-ranging war crimes in Ukraine. The alleged crimes were detailed in a report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine.