Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that no country could subdue Moscow over Crimea's annexation. In a speech aired on Rossiya TV, Putin said: "Of course, no one will be able to intimidate us, or contain and isolate Russia. No one has ever been able to and no one ever will."

A statement released by the Russian foreign ministry on Saturday said the fresh sanctions imposed by the United States and Canada on Friday would do nothing to convince it to relinquish the Crimean peninsula, which it described as a "historic and integral part of Russia."

"We advise Washington and Ottawa to think about the consequences of such actions," the ministry said.

It also expressed regret that "the United States and Canada still cannot get over the results of a free vote in Crimea in March." This was in reference to a referendum held in the Crimean peninsula after Russian troops had seized control and was regarded as illegal by most of the international community.

The statement also referred to this week's announcement by US President Barack Obama that Washington was set to begin normalizing relations with Cuba after more than 50 years of trying to isolate the Caribbean island nation.

"The White House took half a century to admit that blockading Cuba with sanctions was useless: well, we can wait too," the statement added.

Following the EU's lead

On Friday, President Obama announced that he had issued an executive order prohibiting US companies from trading with Crimea. The order also added 24 individuals to a US Treasury blacklist - mainly people from the Black Sea peninsula, pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, as well as their supporters in Russia.

Canada, meanwhile, imposed new measures on Russia's oil and gas sector, and issued travel bans on several politicians in Russia and separatist regions in Ukraine.

The measures imposed by Washington and Ottawa on Friday followed Thursday's announcement that the European Union had approved new sanctions banning EU-based firms from doing business with Crimean companies, as well as other economic restrictions.

pfd/lw (AFP, AP, Reuters)