In as an eye

Russia closed the entrance to the country 13 Canadian officials, parliamentarians and social activists. This was reported on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Among the defendants in the list are the head of the apparatus of Canada Prime Minister Wayne Wuthers, the speaker of the House of Communities of Parliament, Andrew Shir, the leader of the Conservative Party faction in the House of Commons Peter Van Loon, President of the Canadian Ukrainian Congress Pol Grod.

Such a step, explained the Russian Foreign Ministry, was taken "on the basis of reciprocity in connection with Canadian sanctions in Ukraine and Crimea." The department regarded the introduction of sanctions against Russian officials as "unacceptable actions ... causing serious damage to bilateral relations."

"It is regretted that in Ottawa they preferred to ignore the free expression of the will of the inhabitants of Crimea, who, in the vast majority of voted in full accordance with international law and the UN Charter for reuniting with Russia, and headed to support the current illegitimate regime in Kyiv, which is trying to assert themselves in the wake of the coup in Ukraine," said Smolenskaya Square.

“For unfriendly attacks, no matter what motives they are explained, we will react accordingly,” the commentary also says. The Foreign Ministry expressed the hope that "Canadian authorities and politicians will draw appropriate conclusions."

On March 17, Canada banned the entry of seven Russian and three Crimean officials . Their assets in the country were frozen. Among the defendants in the sanctions list were Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and assistants to President Vladimir Putin, as well as the illegitimate Prime Minister of Crimea Sergey Aksenov and the speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of the region Vladimir Konstantinov.

Sanctions against Russia were also introduced by the United States and the European Union. At the same time, in the following days, both Washington and Brussels expanded their sanctions lists.

The Russian Foreign Ministry, for its part, promised that the sanctions of Western countries would not remain unanswered . On March 20, Moscow banned the entry of nine American officials and congressmen to the country.