Canada Announces Sanctions against Russian Entities (with Turza Comment)
Last weekend, as the security situation in Ukraine continued to deteriorate, Canada announced the imposition of targeted economic sanctions against additional Russian entities.The list of 16 companies is nearly identical to that of entities designated by the United States on April 28, consisting of firms linked to previously designated Russian oligarchs Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, Yuri Kovalchuk and Gennady Timchenko. (Canada has not designated Transoil, a Russia-based freight operator named by the United States last week due to its links to Timchenko. Canada imposed sanctions on a number of other Timchenko-related entities and the reason for the omission of Transoil is unclear.)
A list of individuals and entities designated by all jurisdictions to date is available here.
Turza Comment: With instability spreading from eastern Ukraine to Odessa, and with Moscow announcing over the weekend that President Vladimir Putin was considering his response to pleas for a Russian intervention, the prospects for an early resolution of the crisis in Ukraine appear remote. It is not surprising, then, that Western leaders are seeking to maintain pressure on Russia. This is evidenced both by Canada's action, and by the announcement on Monday that Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen will travel to Europe this week to confer with his counterparts in London, Paris and Berlin. The goal of the trip will be to discuss a possible new round of sanctions against Russia, which could include sector-based sanctions with broader application than the targeted sanctions implemented to date. As we reported in a previous news item, these measures could be triggered by an armed Russian invasion of Ukraine, or by Russian interference in the Ukrainian presidential election scheduled for May 25.
Related news: Sanctions Update: Ukraine and Beyond (with Turza Comment) (May 2, 2014). See: Cabinet Sanctions Page (accessible to Cabinet subscribers only). For more information, please contact Dale Turza.