Russia’s Ambassador to Canada Oleg Stepanov says the threat of Western sanctions in response to a military buildup along the Ukraine border carries no weight.
In an interview on CTV News Channel’s Power Play with host Evan Solomon on Thursday, Stepanov said the possibility of new sanctions wouldn’t influence the country’s future actions.
“Sanctions never work and sanctions never will be able to work against such countries, such [a] nation as Russia. The attempts to use sanctions as a threat in order to make Russia do certain steps on the international area is just an illusion,” he said.
“Actually, in Russia, and the Russian government, and I can tell you frankly, nobody cares about Western sanctions anymore…because they don’t work and they don’t bite, they don’t inflict any real influence or any practical outcome.”
Canada, as well as other NATO allies, have stressed that any further incursion by Russian troops into Ukraine would lead to “serious consequences” and sanctions.
The Canadian government has been unclear as to what those sanctions would look like.
Global Affairs reports that Canada has targeted more than 440 individuals and entities related to Russia dating back to 2014 when its military forcibly annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
The U.S. Treasury Department levied new sanctions Thursday against four Ukrainian officials, including two current members of parliament who administration officials say are part of a Russian influence effort to set the pretext for further invasion of Ukraine.
Stepanov said Russia has “no desire” to invade Ukraine, adding that the amassing of some 100,000 troops along the border is part of “regular exercises” on its own territory.
“Russia can do anything on its own territory and of course we would never move our troops in our territory at the behest of foreign countries,” he said.
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Russian soldiers take part in drills at the Kadamovskiy firing range in the Rostov region in southern Russia, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022. Russia has rejected Western complaints about its troop buildup near Ukraine, saying it deploys them wherever it deems necessary on its own territory. (AP Photo)
