Russian President Vladimir Putin says Western countries have "lost Russia's food market" by launching sanctions against his country.
Talking at the televised Forum of Action, a session of the All-Russia Popular Front (ONF) political movement led by the ruling United Russia party, Putin said, "We, indeed, have benefitted from some incorrect behavior of our partners, who had been well-established in Russia's agriculture sector."
Putin said the sanctions introduced against Russia had given new impetus to the development of domestic industries, which are now called upon to compensate for the loss of foreign imports.
Putin added that the move "gave us moral, and I think, judicial right to introduce responsive sanctions."
Putin initiated the creation of the ONF in 2011.
The organization was turned into a political movement in June 2013.