MOSCOW, March 25 . /TASS/. Russia will take reciprocal actions in respond to sanctions imposed by Canada shortly, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement Thursday.
"We are open for an honest, mutually respectful dialogue, but we will respond harshly and consecutively to hostile actions and personal sanctions," the statement says. "We plan to take reciprocal actions shortly."
Zakharova pointed out that Ottawa’s decision to impose anti-Russian sanctions "following its own Russophobic instincts over a contrived pretext of ‘persecution of [Alexey] Navalny and opposition in Russia’ causes no surprise."
"The Canadian ruling elite have already brought our bilateral relations to the historic minimum for pointless and counter-productive confrontation with Russia to appease the geo-political ambitions of Washington," she said.
"Such self-isolation from Russia, who feels sincere respect for Canadian people, contradicts Canadian national interests, strips this country’s foreign policy not only of independence but also of its aim at multi-directional diplomacy, that previous generations of politicians were known for," the spokeswoman noted.
On Wednesday, the Canadian government imposed sanctions against nine Russian high-level officials due to the situation around blogger Alexey Navalny. The sanctions list included Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov, First Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Administration Sergey Kiriyenko, Russina National Guard Director Viktor Zolotov, Presidential Administration director on internal policy Andrey Yarin, Deputy Defense Ministers Alexey Krivoruchko and Pavel Popov, Federal Penitentiary Service Director Alexander Kalashnikov, Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, and Presidential Representative in the Siberian Federal District Sergey Meniaylo. All these officials will be banned from entering Canada, and all their potential bank accounts will be suspended.