Russian Ambassador to Ottawa: Canada’s new round of sanctions makes no sense

Canada’s new sanctions against Russia are an act of empty symbolism. This was stated by the Russian Ambassador in Ottawa Oleg Stepanov.

According to him, Moscow will definitely respond to new sanctions, although they do not carry consequences for those on the list.

“This round of sanctions makes no sense. A helpless act of empty symbolism“, the diplomat emphasized.

He noted that the principle of reciprocity in this case “has not been canceled by anyone.”

Let us remind you that the Canadian authorities have imposed sanctions against 10 individuals and more than 152 legal entities in Russia.

Personal sanctions were imposed against Russian Presidential Aide Igor Levitin, who formerly served as Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation. Entrepreneurs Leonid Levitin, Andrey Filatov, Nikita Mishin, Andrey Molchanov, Andrey Bokarev, Konstantin Khamlay, Sergey and Nikolay Sarkisov, and Vladimir Pavlov were also added to the sanctions list.

Earlier it became known that new US sanctions against Russia also affected companies from Vietnam, Germany, Cyprus, Kyrgyzstan, China, Liechtenstein, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates, Serbia, Turkey, Finland and Estonia.

Earlier, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said that the new US anti-Russian sanctions are a cynical and blatant attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of our country, but no one will force Moscow to abandon the protection of its national interests.

Let us recall that on February 23, Washington expanded the list of sanctions imposed against Russia by adding 300 new Russian individuals and legal entities to it. The list included the operator of the Mir payment system, the manufacturer of AURUS brand cars, diplomat Dmitry Mezentsev and the Russian ambassador to Belarus Boris Gryzlov.