Trudeau announces new Canadian sanctions against Russian citizens and companies

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced new sanctions against individuals and companies from Russia. Trudeau’s speech on February 24, the anniversary of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, was broadcast by the CPAC TV channel.

“Today we are announcing new sanctions against 129 individuals and 63 entities, including Russian deputy prime ministers, ministers, other members of the Russian presidential administration, the Russian military and those involved in the production of artillery weapons used in Ukraine,” – informed Trudeau (quote from RIA Novosti).

How clarifies Kommersant, Ottawa imposes restrictions on 122 Russians, who are called “the elite and close associates of the regime.” They included the head of Roskosmos Yuri Borisov, Deputy Prime Ministers Andrey Belousov, Victoria Abramchenko, Dmitry Chernyshenko, Tatyana Golikova, Marat Khusnullin, Alexei Overchuk, as well as State Duma deputies and representatives of military structures. In addition, the founders of the companies “EuroChem” And SUEK Andrey Melnichenko and his relatives, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kyiv Ploshchad company God Nisanov.

Canada also announced action against seven “top managers of companies involved in the Russian defense industry”, including Alexei Mordashov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Severstal, and his relatives. The country’s authorities also included 50 companies related to the defense industry, the FSB, the main department of the General Staff, the FSO, the Federation Council, the State Duma, the United Russia party, Rosfinmonitoring, the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and other structures to the list of restrictions.

Russian Ambassador to Canada Oleg Stepanov said that the sanctions of Canada and the West against Russia are meaningless and do not affect the country’s sovereign policy.

“Canadian and Western sanctions against Russian citizens, government agencies or businesses are meaningless. They have never worked against Russia, they cannot affect our sovereign foreign policy or domestic relations,” he said on Twitter, adding that sanctions harm only the people and economies of the countries that impose them.

In early February, Canadian authorities decided to expand sanctions against Russia. The new restrictions affected 38 individuals and 16 legal entities, including journalists Sergei Brilev, deputy Alexander Khinshtein, Kommersant correspondent and editor-in-chief of Russian Pioneer Andrei Kolesnikov, artists Oleg Gazmanov, Polina Gagarina, Dima Bilan, and others. All of them, like believe the Canadian authorities are involved in the “spread of disinformation” related to the events in Ukraine.