AMBASSADOR’S OPINION

The Embassy curiously observes how Ottawa is amassing sanctions against Russian citizens and entities. Our position remains the same: besides their Russophobic symbolism, these unfriendly gestures have neither sane meaning nor practical effect. It’s not a big deal for those persons sanctioned by Canada to miss local touristic opportunities. And Trudeau’s cabinet banning or discouraging Canadian companies from working in the Russian market harms only Canadian business interests. Restrictions cannot undermine Russia’s economy or compel Russia to change its sovereign national security policy.

On a broader scale, set aside Foreign Minister Joly’s peculiar words about purposeful efforts “to suffocate the regime” (obviously using this euphemism to avoid publicly saying that the real goal is to suffocate Russia) and looking at the situation through the lenses of realpolitik, there is a clear path to achieve a diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian crisis if such declarations of Canadian government are sincere. It should convince regime in Kiev to order the Ukrainian armed forces and militant formations to lay down arms, to cease hostilities, to voluntarily be subjected to denazification and demilitarization, to adopt permanent non-changeable constitution that sets Ukraine as a neutral and nuclear-free state with equal rights for all ethnic groups and the equal state status of the Russian and Ukrainian languages, to recognize independence of Donetsk and Lugansk Republics as well as the reintegration of Crimea with Russia, and the right of other territories to determine their future based on the will of their people. Such is the approximate framework with other optional elements that can be added later.

The intra-Ukrainian crisis broke out due to the rise of neo-Nazism and the Kiev’s policy of segregation, intolerance and genocidal oppression silently condoned by the West that had declared support for democratization of Ukraine but never bothered with the real state of the human rights there. Any attempt to resolve it through pumping Ukraine with more and more Western weapons will only protract the crisis with dire consequences for the Kiev regime. By all means, Russia will attain the objectives of the special military operation. Our determination will never falter, no matter sanctions or weapons supplies to Ukraine.

In conclusion, it’s worth recalling who is solely bearing collective responsibility for the situation. For eight long years Kiev has been sabotaging the implementation of the Minsk Agreements. The European capitals and Washington deliberately or negligently failed to compel Kiev to implement these arrangements. And the NATO member states rejected Russia’s December 2021 proposals on mutual security guarantees. That was our last-ditch sincere attempt to resolve on the basis of the balance of interests the strain growing for many years in European security.