Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that it had summoned a Canadian diplomat in Moscow in protest over the confiscation of an Antonov plane in Toronto, and warned that Russian-Canadian relations were on the “verge of being severed,” Ednews reports citing Al Arabiya.
Canada on Saturday ordered the seizure of a Russian-registered Antonov-124 cargo plane at Toronto’s airport, its first such asset seizure aimed at putting pressure on Moscow over the Ukraine invasion.
Russia told Brian Ebel, the deputy head of Canada’s embassy in Moscow, that it viewed the plane seizure as “cynical theft,” according to a statement from the foreign ministry.
Canada’s “Russophobic policy will entail the most serious repercussions for Russian-Canadian relations, which are on the verge of being severed through the fault of the Trudeau administration,” the Russian ministry’s statement said.
The Canadian foreign ministry did not have an immediate comment.
Canada announced the aircraft seizure while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Kyiv, where he announced $500 million in new military aid for Ukraine.
NATO member Canada, which has one of the world’s largest Ukrainian diasporas, is among the most vocal backers of Ukraine and has imposed sanctions on hundreds of Russian officials and companies as well as wide-scale trade bans.