Moscow sanctions Trudeau and Canadian leaders

The Russian Foreign Ministry has sanctioned over 300 Canadian individuals in response to a similar move by the Canadian government. Delivered on Tuesday in response to what it calls the “outrageous hostility of the current Canadian regime,” Moscow’s sanctions list includes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The list also includes the ministers of foreign affairs and national defense, and most of the deputies of the House of Commons of the Canadian Parliament. 

“Aggressive pro-Bandera elements” in Canada are also banned, the Russian announcement revealed, referring to the Ukrainian WW2-era Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera. Those sanctioned are barred from entering the Russian Federation.

Canadian troops were accused by Jewish groups last year of involvement in training neo-Nazi battalions in Ukraine. It was also revealed by media that Canadian officials had met in 2018 with members of the notorious neo-Nazi Azov Battalion.

The Russian Foreign Ministry defended its latest step, declaring that “every Russophobic attack, be it attacks on Russian diplomatic missions, airspace closures, or Ottawa’s actual severing of bilateral economic ties to the detriment of Canadian interests, will inevitably receive a decisive and not necessarily symmetrical rebuff.”

The sanctions announcement from Moscow followed Canada’s declaration that it would impose sanctions on 15 Russian officials. Ottawa’s sanctions were announced ahead of an expected virtual address to the Canadian Parliament by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is planning a similar speech to the US Congress on Wednesday.

Following in the footsteps of its southern neighbor, Canada has closed its airspace and ports to Russian aircraft and vessels, shipped millions of dollars’ worth of lethal military aid to Ukraine, and banned oil imports from Russia, though Canada has not actually imported any Russian oil since 2019. The latest round of sanctions from Ottawa adds a handful of individuals to a list of hundreds already targeted since the beginning of the Russian military operation in Ukraine.