Russia faces severe sanctions if it moves further into Ukraine, says Canada's Joly

Foreign Affairs Minister Mlanie Joly says Canada will join allies in imposing severe sanctions on Russian officials if the country takes further military action to compromise Ukrainian sovereignty.

Russia has positioned about 100,000 troops across Ukraine's borders, along with tanks and other heavy artillery, stoking fears across Europe of an invasion. Russia has denied it intends to do that.

"The recently launched diplomatic process offers Russia two options: they can choose meaningful dialogueorsevere consequences," Joly said in Brussels on Thursday where she was meeting with her European Union counterpart Josep Borrell.

"We, of course, appreciate the EU's collaboration on many deterrence measures, including economic ones. Canada will be ready to take additional measures, particularly with respect to the financial sector."

WATCH |Canada will impose sanctions against Russia over Ukraine if warranted, Joly says:

Canada will impose sanctions against Russia over Ukraine if warranted, Joly says

3 years ago

Duration 0:46

Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said Russia can choose to engage in meaningful dialogue or face severe consequences if it takes further military action against Ukrainian sovereignty.

On Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden said he expects Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine but that he will pay a "dear price" for that.

Joly and Borrell were pressed about whether they agreed Biden's remark that a "minor incursion" by Russia would lead to a lesser response. Biden attempted to clarify the comment, saying he was referring to non-military action such as a cyberattack and that if Russia launched a military attack "that changes everything."

Borrell dismissed Biden's phrasing as "nothing new" and said allies would respond in a way that would be "very costly for Russia."

"If there is any kind of aggression against Ukraine the warning of President Biden goes exactly the same direction in which we have been working," said Borrell. "A threat is a threat."

Joly pointed toRussia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and its fomenting of Russian separatist forces in Ukraine's eastern region.

"Let me be clear, first, Russia is already in Ukraine," she said."We're talking about a real threat of a further invasion of Ukraine. So, in that sense, like my colleague just mentioned, a threat is a threat."

Joly is to meet later Thursday with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenbergas she wraps upa three-country tour that has included stops in Ukraine and France.

PM looking at a 'range of options'

Joly had nothing new to say about whether Canada would answer Ukraine's requests forweapons and military hardware. She said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is looking at "a range of options" that will bebased on the information she is gathering this week.

Former Ukraine ambassador to CanadaAndriy Shevchenkosaid Canada should boost its supplies of military equipment and weaponsin the region "immediately."

"That's something which matters right now,"he told CBC News Thursday morning.

"It's not like we need those weapons when thefull-scale war has started. We see the weapons as the way to stop Russia, to prevent Russia from going ahead."

Vadym Prystaiko, Ukraine's ambassador to the United Kingdom, toldCBC's Power & Politics that his country is preparing for an invasion.

WATCH|Ukrainianambassador on the threat of a Russian invasion

Ukraine preparing for Russian invasion, says Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.K.

3 years ago

Duration 9:54

"Realistically, we understand that not many nations will agree to send their soldiers and Ukrainian mothers won't be happy to send their kids to die as well. But, if we have to fight we will," says Ukraine's Ambassador to the U.K. Vadym Prystaiko.

"That's why we are trying to reach out to everybody, our partners in the West, trying to tell you that we know it will happen. We just don't know when,"Prystaiko said.

Joly's trip is unfolding against a backdrop of other high-level meetings across Europe this week.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Berlin on Thursday for meetings with German, French and British officials, a group known as the Trans-Atlantic Quad that is playing a leading role in defusing the crisis.

Blinken has been invited to a meeting of the EU's foreign affairs council early next week, said an EU spokesperson.