Baltic States – CIS, EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Legislation, Ukraine, USA

During the phone call, Straujuma expressed her concerns over the escalation of the situation in Ukraine, indicating that there is no doubt about the impact of the aggressive policy of the Russian Federation on events in Eastern Ukraine. At the same time, she noted that the political situation in Latvia is calm, and the Canadian prime minister expressed his satisfaction over this fact.

Harper pointed out that Canada has never acknowledged the occupation of the Baltic countries, and will never acknowledge the occupation of Crimea. Canada has already set a number of sanctions against former senior officials of Ukraine, preventing them to enter Canada, as well as freezing their funds.

Straujuma also informed her Canadian counterpart about the steps that the European Union (EU) is ready to take if the situation escalates, and said that the EU is ready, if necessary, with the third phase of sanctions. The prime minister expressed his understanding of the potential impact of sanctions and readiness to provide assistance, if necessary.

The Latvian prime minister also expressed gratitude to Harper for the meeting with ambassadors from a number of Eastern European countries, including Latvia, which was organized this week, during which the possible future course of events in the Ukraine-Russia conflict was discussed. The participants of the meeting also welcomed the visit of Canadian Foreign Minister John Baired to Latvia scheduled for next week.