Canada banned Russian seafood imports and issued sanctions against Russian seafood tycoon Gleb Frank on 20 May.
Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly said sanctions were in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “ongoing egregious and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine.”
“The Putin regime must, and will, answer for their unjustifiable acts. Canada, together with our allies, will be relentless in our efforts to maintain pressure on the Russian regime, until it is no longer able to wage war. We are unwavering in our support for Ukraine and its people,” Joly said in a press release.
The ban came on a larger measure that restricts the trade of targeted luxury goods between Canada and Russia valued at CAD 75.7 million (USD 59.2 million, EUR 55.4 million). Canada imported CAD 2.14 billion (USD 1.68 billion, EUR 1.57 billion) worth of goods from Russia in 2021, Statistics Canada data showed, according to Reuters.
The United States issued a similar ban in March, as has the European Union and the United Kingdom. Also in line other Western nations, on 3 March, Canada banned Russian vessels from its ports and removed Russia’s most-favored nation tariff status, which raises tariff rates for most Russian goods to 35 percent.
“It is the direct result of Russia’s unjustified invasion of Ukraine that has triggered our government’s removal of the Most-Favoured-Nation Tariff treatment on almost all imports from Russia and Belarus,” Canada Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business, and Economic Development Mary Ng said in a press release. “Canada is stepping up by putting significant economic pressure on Russia, and is providing resources to Ukraine including military equipment and emergency humanitarian support. Canada remains resolute in our solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, and we will continue supporting them as they fight to defend their freedom and democracy.”
In addition to the sanction son seafood, Gleb Frank – the former owner and chairman of the board of Russian Fishery Company (RFC), the third-largest pollock-fishing firm in the world, and former owner of up-and-coming crab player Russian Crab – was added to a list of oligarchs sanctioned by Canada for playing a role in supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Global Affairs Canada. Frank, whose wife Ksenia Frank – the daughter of Gennady Timchenko, an oil and gas oligarch who is a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin – was also placed on a list of sanctioned individuals released by the Canadian government, and Timchenko himself has been on the sanctioned list since 2014. All three have also been sanctioned by the U.S. government. Frank sold his interests in RFC and Russian Crab in March 2022 after the U.S. sanctions were announced.
“These individuals have directly enabled Vladimir Putin’s senseless war in Ukraine and bear responsibility for the pain and suffering of the people of Ukraine,” Joly said. “Together, these measures will help maintain further pressure on the Russian regime to cease its unprovoked and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine. Canada will not relent in holding those responsible for the war in Ukraine to account, and it will continue to work with its partners in the international community to support Ukraine and its people as they fight to defend their sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence.”
Photo courtesy of Alexandros Michailidis/Shutterstock
