Federal government imposes new sanctions on Russian propaganda agents

During the visit to Ottawa on Monday of human rights and media, freedom advocates Bill Browder and Evgenia Kara-Mourza, wife of the Leader of the Opposition, Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, made the announcement. According to the communication, the Russian captive Vladimir Kara-Murza is still being held.

Sanctions have been imposed against 34 individuals and one entity who are suspected of being complicit in the dissemination of Russian propaganda and disinformation, contributing to the undermining of Ukrainian sovereignty, and being responsible for false intelligence that was used as a pretext for war.

“The war being waged by the Russian regime is founded on falsehoods and deception. Those of its own residents who have the audacity to voice the truth risk being silenced or imprisoned. The number of violations of human rights committed by Russia continues to climb, and as a result, Canada is taking action to combat the propaganda that attempts to justify these violations. We are not naive in any way. “Canada is proud to stand in solidarity with Ukraine,” stated Mélanie Joly, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Exceptions

The following are eligible for exemptions from the restrictions placed on designated persons in Schedule 1 regarding the freezing of their assets and the prohibition on conducting business with them:

• payments made by or on behalf of designated individuals in accordance with contracts entered into prior to the coming into force of the Regulations, provided that the payments are neither made to nor for the benefit of a designated person
• distributions of pensions to any individual in Canada or any Canadian living outside of Canadatransactions pertaining to accounts held by diplomatic missions at financial institutions provided that the transaction is required in order for the mission to fulfill its diplomatic functions in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, or transactions pertaining to the maintenance of the mission premises in the event that the diplomatic mission has been temporarily or permanently recalled from its post.
• transactions carried out by international organizations that have been granted diplomatic status, agencies of the United Nations, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, or Canadian non-governmental organizations that have entered into a grant or contribution agreement with Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Development Canada.
• transactions required for a Canadian to transfer to a non-designated person any accounts, funds, or investments of a Canadian that were held by a designated person on the day that person became designated as a designated person in Canada.
• the necessary financial services for a designated person to be able to acquire legal services in Canada in relation to the implementation of any of the prohibitions outlined in the Regulations
• loan repayments made to any person in Canada or any Canadian abroad in respect of loans entered into before the coming into force of the Regulations, enforcement of security in respect of those loans, or payments by guarantors guaranteeing those loans are exempt from the provisions of this regulation.