Russia sees Canada's sanctions as ‘factory of absurdity’ — ambassador says

WASHINGTON, May 11. /TASS/. Canada's sanction attacks against Russia are a "factory of absurdity," and Moscow has long since stopped paying attention to them, Russia’s ambassador to Ottawa, Oleg Stepanov, has told TASS, commenting on the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' announcement of new restrictions against Moscow. "Frankly speaking, people in Russia stopped paying attention to the sanction outbursts coming from official Ottawa a long time ago. This factory of absurdity has long inspired little beyond laughter. Perhaps only a degree of pity for those gray bureaucrats who are instructed from above to keep inventing these 'sanctions’," Stepanov said. Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand previously announced that Ottawa had added 23 more individuals and five entities to its sanction lists against Russia. These sanctions included the Avangard educational and methodological center and the Sevastopol branch of the all-Russia children's and youth movement Yunarmiya. These sanctions took effect on May 8.