News / Brèves Back to previous selection / Retour à la sélection précédente Washington and Ottawa Tighten the Screws on Russia: Moscow Will Respond 21 December 2014 Minister of Foreign affairs John Baird holds a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Friday, Dec. 19, 2014.(Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS) LPAC—The order of the day, today, for the West is "tighten the screws." So, President Obama announced last night that he had issued an executive order imposing sanctions on Crimea. The order prohibits the export of goods and services to Crimea and the import of the same from Crimea. It also gives the Secretary of the Treasury authority to sanction individuals in Ukraine and Russia who support separatist militias. "The E.O. is intended to provide clarity to U.S. corporations doing business in the region and reaffirm that the United States will not accept Russia’s occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea," Obama said in his statement. He also demanded that Russia return Crimea to Ukraine. Canada, already on the nuclear confrontation bandwagon, announced its own new series of sanctions against Russia at the same time. According to the Globe and Mail, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird told reporters that the sanctions are necessary because there is a "militaristic leader in the Kremlin who has single-handedly tried to redraw the borders of Europe." German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on the other hand, issued a note of warning, telling Der Spiegel that he fears new sanctions against Moscow could destabilize Russia and admonished against "turning the screw any further. From Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich made clear that Russia will not let these sanctions stand unanswered. "For those still having illusions life in the world may continue only if directed by Washington and Ottawa, we would like to say once again: Crimea is a historic and integral part of Russia. Today, people in Crimea are together with the Russian people, who have never bent and would not bend to an outer pressure," he said this morning, reported TASS. "Our advice to Washington and Ottawa is to think about consequences from actions of the kind," he said. "And we shall work on retaliatory measures." The Russian Foreign Ministry, in a separate statement, characterized the sanctions as "collective punishment" against the people of Crimea for voting to rejoin Russia. [cjo - ggg]