OTTAWA (REUTERS) - The Canadian government has urged its citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Ukraine due to "ongoing Russian aggression and military build-up in and around the country".
Foreign Minister Melanie Joly will visit Kiev next week to reaffirm Canadian support for Ukrainian sovereignty and reinforce efforts to deter "aggressive actions" by Russia, Ottawa said earlier.
"We have changed the risk level for Ukraine to avoid non-essential travel due to ongoing Russian aggression and military build-up in and around the country," the Canadian government said in a travel advisory issued late on Saturday (Jan 15).
Moscow has stationed more than 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine. The United States said on Friday that it feared Russia was preparing a pretext to invade if diplomacy failed to meet its objectives.
Canada, with a sizeable and politically influential population of Ukrainian descent, has taken a hard line with Russia since its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Ms Joly will meet Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and travel to the west of the country to speak to a 200-strong Canadian training mission that has been there since 2015.
Canadian Deputy Foreign Minister Marta Morgan and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman spoke on Friday and pledged continued close coordination to deter further Russian aggression against Ukraine and called for Russian de-escalation, a US State Department spokesman said on Saturday.
In an interview with Canadian broadcaster CBC published Sunday, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg described Russia as "the aggressor."
He told CBC News it was up to Russia to de-escalate and that Nato was willing to sit down again and listen to Moscow’s concerns.
Russia denies plans to attack Ukraine but says it could take unspecified military action unless its demands - including a promise by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation alliance never to admit Kiev - are met.
Russia did not walk out of meetings on the crisis with the US and European nations last week, but the talks ended with US officials warning that the risk of a Russian invasion of Ukraine remains high.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday and "emphasised that any military incursion into Ukraine would have serious consequences, including coordinated sanctions".
Canada has imposed punitive measures on more than 440 individuals and entities over the annexation of Crimea.
