(Ottawa) Russia will react to the Canadian government’s ‘hostile gesture’ of hitting it with economic sanctions, the Moscow Embassy in Ottawa warned on Wednesday, scolding Canada for this ‘new behaviour’ in business foreign.
Posted at 3:13 p.m.
Updated at 5:07 p.m.
“The unilateral sanctions against Russia announced by the Government of Canada are illegitimate and illegal,” said a statement posted on the Twitter account of the Kremlin’s diplomatic mission in the Canadian capital.
“Under the principle of reciprocity, Russia will respond to this hostile gesture (“unfriendly gesture”) it wrote, calling it “ridiculous” to punish members of the Russian parliament who voted to recognize the pro-Russian separatist territories of Donetsk and Lugansk.
“It amounts to adopting punitive measures against their constituents for their opinion. This is new in the behavior of Canadian liberal democracy in international affairs,” the statement reads.
And ultimately, “these sanctions will not influence the situation on the ground,” the embassy decides.
The government yesterday announced a “first round” of economic sanctions that will remain in place “until Ukraine’s territorial integrity is restored” to sanction President Vladimir Putin’s recognition of Donetsk and Lugansk as independent territories.
Russian ambassador summoned
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly also instructed her deputy minister on Tuesday to summon Moscow’s ambassador to Ottawa, Oleg V. Stepanov, to “express clearly Canada’s position” on this matter. .
The head of mission complied. “The meeting took place at 3 p.m. yesterday (February 22). Ambassador Stepanov had the opportunity to learn about the official position of the cabinet and took this opportunity to convey, in response, the Russian position,” wrote to The Press an embassy spokesperson.
“We recognize these candid exchanges as practical steps in our efforts to find a peaceful solution through diplomacy and dialogue,” Global Affairs spokeswoman Marilyne Guèvremont said of the meeting in an email sent to evening, Wednesday.
Deputy Minister Marta Morgan “reiterated that if Russia invades[ssait] Ukraine again, Canada will impose[it] additional severe measures”, she continued, noting that “Canada remains an unwavering ally of the Ukrainian people”.