MOSCOW

Russia has condemned Canada's announcement of new sanctions against it and warned it will retaliate.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement on Wednesday that the sanctions, announced a day earlier by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper who accused Russia of backing "escalated acts of aggression" in Ukraine, would not go unanswered.

He said: "The decision of the Canadian authorities to further expand sanctions against Russian officials and companies under the pretext of the events in Ukraine looks like a clumsy attempt to prevent the implementation of the agreements on the settlement of the conflict, reached in Minsk on 12 February, with the active and constructive role of Russia.

 "Canada's choice of sanctions, of course, will not go unanswered."

"We still hope that Ottawa will consider the consequences of their actions, which will actually fuel further armed confrontation in Ukraine, and realize the futility of using sanctions to put pressure on Russia," Lukashevich added.

The Canadian government announced on Tuesday that it had imposed new economic sanctions and travel bans against 37 individuals and 17 entities in Russia and Ukraine.

More than 5,300 people have been killed and 12,200 others injured in eastern Ukraine since mid-April last year in the ongoing conflict, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.