Russia has issued sanctions against nine Canadian nationals for shaping and conducting anti-Russian policy.
“In response to unlawful sanctions imposed by the Canadian government against nationals of the Russian Federation on March 24, 2021, under the far-fetched pretext of the alleged persecution of Russian national Alexey Navalny, convicted for illegal actions, a decision was made to indefinitely ban entry to Russia for the following persons with Canadian citizenship,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a commentary on Monday.
The list includes David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada; Anne Kelly, Commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada; Brenda Lucki, Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; Marci Surkes, Director of Policy for the Prime Minister; Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs; Jody Thomas, Deputy Minister of the Department of National Defense; Michael Rouleau, Vice Chief of the Defense Staff; Brian Brennan, Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; and Rear Admiral Scott Bishop, Commander of the Canadian Forces Intelligence Command.
Zakharova went on to assert that official Canadian authorities continue to support initiatives directed against Russia “displaying inappropriate and counterproductive activity in supporting the ultra-nationalistic regime in Kiev and Russophobic forces in the Baltics, groundless accusations against our country of ‘aggression aimed’ at Ukraine, as well as attempts to meddle in Russia’s internal affairs.” Such destructive actions by Ottawa, as the diplomat pointed out, “negatively reflect on the prospects of restoring full-fledged interstate dialogue and establishing interaction between Russia and Canada as neighbors via the North Pole.”
