Canada sanctions Russian regime collaborators complicit in sham referendums in Ukraine

September 30, 2022 – Washington, D.C. – Global Affairs Canada

The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced that Canada is imposing further sanctions in relation to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine, including the sham referendums in and the attempted annexation of the Ukrainian territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. 

President Putin’s plans to annex Ukrainian territory have no legitimacy. His egregious violations of international law are based on the imperial notion that his regime can redraw the map as it pleases. The vote in Russia’s Federal Assembly to integrate Ukraine’s territories is an attempt to formalize President Putin’s conquest through political theatre. This sham process will not alter Canada’s position. Borders will not change. Ukraine’s territory will remain Ukraine’s. 

Canada and its international partners will not stand idly by as President Putin attacks Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the rules-based international order. As announced by the Prime Minister on Tuesday, to increase pressure on the Russian regime, Canada is imposing measures on 43 Russian oligarchs, financial elites and their family members; the so-called governing body in Kherson; and 35 Russia-backed senior officials in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. These individuals and entity are complicit in President Putin’s desperate attempt to undermine the principles of state sovereignty, and share responsibility for the ongoing senseless bloodshed throughout Ukraine.

Building on similar measures Canada has already imposed on the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, certain business dealings in or with the Russian occupied areas of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, including investing and exporting, are henceforth prohibited.

Canada reiterates its strong condemnation of the Russian Federation’s war crimes in Ukraine, which include rape, torture and the indiscriminate murder of civilians. Canada will use every tool at its disposal to ensure that those responsible for violations of international law will be held accountable.

These new sanctions are the latest example of Canada’s efforts to stand with Ukraine as its counteroffensive surges to reclaim its occupied land. Canada continues to coordinate with like-minded partners to explore options for new measures in response to the ongoing violations of Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.