MOSCOW, April 25 (RIA Novosti) – Potential sanctions imposed by the West will have no impact on Russia’s international projects in the Arctic, because the country’s partners are interested in further polar cooperation, a senior Russian science official told RIA Novosti Friday.
“No sanctions, I emphasize that, even Canada’s demarche in the Arctic Council, will affect working relations," said Arkady Tishkov, deputy head of the Institute of Geography at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"The [international] cooperation continues, information exchange continues, as well as an actual realization of the projects, including major investments,” Tishkov said during a panel discussion entitled “Arctic: Defense of Russian Interests.”
Canada earlier refused to participate in a meeting of the Arctic Council in Moscow over the situation in Ukraine. Russia, the US, Denmark, Canada, Finland, Sweden, Iceland and Norway are members of the council.
Earlier this week, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that Ottawa could impose sanctions targeting Russian banks over the country’s stand on the situation in Ukraine. On Tuesday, Moscow expelled the first secretary of the Canadian embassy in Moscow in response to the recent expulsion of a staff member of the Russian embassy in Ottawa.
In February, the Ukrainian parliament backed by far-right movements ousted President Viktor Yanukovych and scheduled an early presidential election for May 25. Moscow has described the uprising in Kiev as an illegitimate fascist coup and a military seizure of power, which resulted in it taking steps to protect ethnic Russians in Ukraine, including the reunification with Crimea. The West responded by imposing targeted sanctions against some Russian officials.
