Canada Puts Russians in the Cold (with Turza Comment)

Over the past two days, Canada has joined with the United States and the European Union in imposing economic sanctions and travel bans against Russian and Ukrainian officials, as well as one entity – the Russian Unity Party – in response to the March 16 independence referendum in Crimea, which has since resulted in the Russian Federation's annexation of the peninsula. For a complete list of sanctioned individuals and entities by Canada, see the links below.

James Treanor and Keith Gerver, associates in Cadwalader's Washington Office, continue to monitor the U.S. response to the Ukrainian situation.

Turza Comment: There appear to be discrepancies between the list of individuals provided by the Canadian Prime Minister's office and those listed on the schedules of the regulations promulgated pursuant to Canada's Special Economic Measures Act. Canada's sanctions are notable for their inclusion of the Russian Unity Party, which is a Ukrainian political party led by Sergey Aksyonov who declared himself Prime Minister of Crimea late last month. Canada's levying of sanctions further cements Russia's isolation from the G7 powers. Given Russia's actions today in annexing Crimea, we should expect to see additional sanctions by the United States, the European Union and Canada targeted against Russian and Ukrainian officials and entities. Indeed, White House spokesperson Jay Carney stated that "there are more to come" from the United States.While President Putin pledged today that the Russian Federation will not annex any more Ukrainian territory, the situation remains tense as Putin also promised that Russia would act to protect the rights of Russians living abroad.