Moscow has summoned Canada's top diplomat to Russia again, this time over the Toronto government's seizure of a massive Russian cargo plane.
Russia claims it summoned Canadian chargé d'affaires Brian Ebel to tell him Ottawa's plans risked “the most serious repercussions.”
Two days ago, Moscow warned that relations with Canada were “on the verge of breakdown” over the Russian cargo plane affair.
And three months ago, the Kremlin summoned the same Canadian diplomat over Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly's comments about possible regime change in Russia.
During a surprise visit to Kiev, Ukraine, last weekend, the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada has officially seized the cargo plane that has been stuck on the tarmac at Toronto's Pearson International Airport since the Russian invasion began in February 2022. Ottawa is actually preparing to hand over the plane or its value to the Ukrainian government.
In an English-language statement released Thursday, Moscow said the move “amounts to an outright attempted theft” and that the plane was “seized in a shameful manner.”
A year ago, Canada became the first G7 country to enact a law that allows Ottawa not only to seize assets of people subject to sanctions, but also to seize those assets and redirect their proceeds to the victims of a regime against them that sanctions were imposed.
The law was never applied, but Trudeau said Ottawa planned to begin the process of seizing Russian airline Volga-Dnepr's massive Antonov AN-124 and use the plane to support Ukraine.
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