Canada announced sanctions on Friday against 35 more Russian individuals, including Gazprom leaders, and six energy entities in a show of support for Ukraine. The move comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on an official visit to Canada.
"It's another senseless, absurd anti-Russian, hostile move by the Trudeau cabinet. It continues to mindlessly churn out symbolic sanctions in automatic mode, which cannot have any impact either on Russia or on the persons involved in these lists," Stepanov said.
"This is a purely symbolic gesture, which was timed by Prime Minister Trudeau to coincide with the opening of the next assembly of the Canadian-Ukrainian Congress, which is held every three years and will be held this weekend. This is a gesture of such servility to the Bandera-Ukrainian diaspora here in Canada, counting on its votes in some electoral cycles."
The timing of the steps - sanctions, bonds, and a report on how much they are doing for Ukraine's regime - are no coincidence.
"All these announcements, they, of course, were planned for Blinken's visit to bow in their allegiance to the common anti-Russian line that the United States and Great Britain are leading, and Canada also wants to be a member of this trio of such leaders," Stepanov said. "To some extent, it even ideologically, if not practically, runs ahead of the American steam locomotive."
Stepanov went on to say that the Trudeau government is showing absolute political unscrupulousness by recklessly supporting the Kiev regime.
"For many years, since 2014, since the anti-constitutional coup in Ukraine, Canada has never once condemned the crimes of the Kiev regime against civilians, against the population of Donbass," the ambassador said. "It turns a blind eye to the regular shelling of the civilian population and civilian infrastructure. Donetsk was shelled 36 times today. Of course, we will not hear a word of condemnation from this government."
Moreover, Stepanov continued to say, Ottawa did not condemn the terrorist act against the Crimean bridge, remained silent about the explosions on the Nord Stream and did not condemn the murder of Russian journalist Daria Dugina.
At the same time Canada continues to provide military, military-technical, consulting, training and broad economic assistance to the Kiev regime, he added.
Thereby Ottawa is supporting Ukraine’s inhuman war and the crimes that this regime commits.
“It's unfortunate," he stated. "This is just a demonstration of such a gutta-percha conscience of the current government headed by Mr. Trudeau."
Stepanov also said that Moscow will respond to the latest move by Ottawa on the principle of reciprocity.
"Even realizing all the symbolism and absurdity of Canadian measures, it is customary in interstate relations to respond proportionately," he said.
"Therefore, the answer will follow, although at the level of diplomatic communication through diplomatic channels we tell the Canadian side that 'you probably yourself understand the meaninglessness of these gestures, and you impose sanctions, we will answer you and this will continue in a circle until you stop, because we are never the first to introduce any sanctions.'"
Russia, he added, only recognizes sanctions that are imposed under the mandate of the UN Security Council. "Unilateral sanctions are illegal, they are simply illegal," the ambassador said.
Russia Unlike Canada Understands Regional Peace Mutually Beneficial
Russia and Canada will never be allies, but Moscow, in contrast to Ottawa, understands the simple truth that regional peace and stability are mutually beneficial, Russian Ambassador to Canada Oleg Stepanov told Sputnik.
"We [Russia and Canada] do not have to entwine in love ecstasy, we will never be allies, but we [Russia] understand that peace and stability in our region are mutually beneficial," Stepanov said on Friday.
"This, in my opinion, is some common truth for us, but not for them, apparently, at least not for the current cabinet."
Russians, he added, do not judge Canadians by the actions of the political leadership. On the contrary, Russia sees Canada as its neighbor and wants the relations between the countries to be predictable.
As regards the situation in Ukraine, the members of the Canadian government today act as "temporary workers" who follow the philosophy – "after us the deluge," Stepanov said and added that such "workers" can destroy Russian-Canadian relations, complicate interpersonal relations between the two nations, and then leave their posts to continue working somewhere else and not even care of what they have done.
On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian provocations.
In response to Russia’s operation, Western countries have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow, which includes airspace closures and restrictive measures targeting numerous Russian officials and entities, media, and financial institutions. Some foreign companies have decided to leave Russia altogether.