Canada announces sanctions on Russia as tensions escalate on Ukraine border

The sanctions include banning Canadians from all financial dealings with the breakaway Ukrainian regions known as Luhansk and Donetsk

Canada has announced a series of new sanctions against Russia on Tuesday in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to recognize the independence of two separatist regions in Ukraine.

The sanctions include banning Canadians from all financial dealings with the breakaway states known as Luhansk and Donetsk. Canadians also will be barred from purchasing Russian sovereign debt and dealing with two state-backed Russian banks. Moreover, Ottawa will also sanction members of the Russian parliament who voted to recognize the separatist regions.

Speaking on Canada's response to Russia's decision, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, "Make no mistake, this is a further invasion of a sovereign state and it is absolutely unacceptable."

 

"Russia's brazen provocations are a threat to security and peace in the world."

At the news conference to discuss the Russia-Ukraine crisis, Trudeau said the sanctions "will remain in place until the territorial integrity of Ukraine is restored".

Earlier on Tuesday, the United States, United Kingdom and Germany announced sanctions targeting Russian banks and called off the planned opening of a natural gas pipeline connecting Russia to Germany.

Notably, in March 2014, Russia invaded and then annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. In April pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas region declared independence. The war continued in the eastern Ukrainian region and then spread westwards. Roughly 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians eventually died in the conflict.

In April 2019, Volodymyr Zelensky, a former comedian, was elected by a large majority as President of Ukraine on a promise to restore Donbas to the country. The crisis deepened in January 2021, when Zelensky appealed the US President Biden to let Ukraine enter NATO. In the spring of 2021, Russia started massing troops near Ukraine's borders in what it said were training exercises.

Russia stated that its troop deployment is in response to NATO's steady eastward expansion. It argued that its moves are aimed at protecting its own security considerations.