MOSCOW, June 15. /TASS/. Canadian Minister Counselor Brian Ebel, who was summoned to Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, was strongly protested over Ottawa’s intention to seize a Russian An-124 cargo plane, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
"Brian Ebel, minister counselor at the embassy of Canada in Moscow, who was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on June 14, was protested over the plans announced by the Canadian government to seize an An-124 aircraft, owned by the Volga-Dnepr Airlines, that has been illegally arrested in Toronto Airport since February 2022," the statement reads.
"The Russian side emphasized that it views the move reportedly made by [Canadian] Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to transfer the aircraft to the Kiev regime as cynical theft," Russia’s MFA said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also warned that Ottawa’s actions will have the most serious repercussions for Russian-Canadian ties which, it said, are "on the brink of a collapse" through Trudeau’s fault.
The An-124 Ruslan cargo aircraft, owned by Russia’s Volga-Dnepr Airlines and chartered by the Canadian government, arrived in Toronto on February 27, 2022, carrying a cargo of Covid tests from China. The aircraft had landed two hours before Canada closed its airspace to Russian aircraft over the Ukraine crisis. Despite the fact, the aircraft was arrested and the crew were accommodated at a hotel. Later the crew flew back to Russia.