Canada's relations with Russia have slid to a post-Soviet low, ambassador says

Canada's top envoy in Moscow says relations with post-Soviet Russia are likely as bad as they've ever been, as the war in Ukraine grinds on and Vladimir Putin enters his fifth term as president.

In her first media inter‐ view as ambassador to Rus‐ sia, which aired Saturday on CBC Radio's The House, Sarah Taylor said the combi‐ nation of the war in Ukraine and Russia's internal crack‐ down on dissent had led to a rapid and dramatic deteriora‐ tion in the relationship.

"I would say it's certainly a relationship that is extremely poor at the moment, proba‐ bly the poorest it's ever been" since the fall of the So‐ viet Union, Taylor told host Catherine Cullen.

The invasion of Ukraine, Taylor said, is the main fac‐ tor. She also expressed con‐ cern about Russian domestic issues, including what she called a "crackdown on democracy, human rights [and] civil society."

The conflict in Ukraine has stagnated into a war of attri‐ tion across a relatively stable front, though Ukraine has ex‐ pressed concerns about de‐ pleted military materiel and the urgent need for Western aid.

Ukraine has said a mon‐ ths-long delay in an aid pack‐ age from the United States put it at a tactical disadvan‐ tage. Russia launched a new ground attack in the coun‐ try's east on Friday.

Putin used the occasion of his inauguration to a fifth presidential term in Russia to rail against the West's sup‐ port for embattled Ukraine. The United States announced a new $400 million aid pack‐ age for Ukraine on Friday.

"The choice is theirs: do they intend to continue try‐ ing to restrain the develop‐ ment of Russia, continue the policy of aggression, inces‐ sant pressure on our country for years, or look for a path to cooperation and peace?" Putin said in his speech Tues‐ day.

WATCH | Putin's fifth term as Russian president begins

Taylor did not attend Putin's inauguration - a con‐ sequence of what she de‐ scribed as Canada's policy of "limited engagement" with Russia. The policy entails making sure that the basic operations of the embassy continue - including consular issues, diplomatic communi‐ cations and information gatherings - without meeting with Russian officials on oth‐ er issues.

"Some people think of embassies and diplomatic re‐ lations as some sort of gift that we give to friends. That's a misunderstanding. Em‐ bassies and diplomatic rela‐ tions are tools that we use to promote and protect Canada's interests abroad," she said.

The embassy's interac‐ tions with Russian counter‐ parts are limited, she said.

"They consider us to be an unfriendly country, as they put it," she said.

WATCH | Is there a prob‐ lem with international sanc‐ tions on Russia?

Canada has sanctioned thousands of Russian individ‐ uals and entities in response to the war in Ukraine though it's not clear whether broader international sanc‐ tions are having a significant effect on Russia's economy, which is expected to grow rapidly this year. High oil prices in particular have al‐ lowed the Russian economy to weather its increasing iso‐ lation from the global mar‐ ketplace.

Taylor defended Canada's sanctions regime in her inter‐ view Saturday.

'I think it's important to recognize that sanctions are never an instant tool. They're not a quick on, quick off," she said.

"I think we need a degree of patience. We keep saying we're in this for as long as it takes. We need to continue holding the course on sanc‐ tions - but I think, in the medium term especially, they will have quite a significant impact on the Russian economy."

Looking ahead, Taylor said Russia is unlikely to focus strongly on the Arctic right now, given the attention it needs to pay to Ukraine.

WATCH | Ukraine needs more aid from the West, PM says

"The Arctic is more per‐ haps a medium and longer term issue for them," she said.

She also discussed a re‐ cent announcement by Putin that Russia would practice nuclear weapons deploymen‐ ts. Putin has brought up the possibility of nuclear warfare occasionally over the course of the war.

"Russia has made quite a number of threats which it has not followed through on. So I think I hope very much that this may fall in this cate‐ gory," Taylor said.