Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, Defence Minister Anita Anand and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly look on as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a news conference about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022 in Ottawa.
What are Canada’s sanctions against Russia and how do they stack up to other countries’?
Canada doesn’t have leverage on its own against Russia’s elite over the Ukraine invasion, despite plans to curb $750M in exports and penalize 31 people.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau outlined on Thursday moves to penalize 31 individuals and 27 banks and entities connected to Russia’s ruling elite; to curb about $750 million in Canadian exports to Russia, particularly in aerospace, IT and mineral shipments; and to bar any dealings with several Russian financial institutions.
Among the people blacklisted are members of the Russian elite, their families, and Vladimir Putin’s lieutenants on his government’s security council: Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu, Justice Minister Konstantin Chuychenko, and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov. (Missing are Putin’s top deputy Sergey Lavrov and Putin himself.)
The federal Liberal government and its other allies including the U.S. did not immediately move to cut Russia out of the SWIFT global financial transaction system, target Putin outright or Lavrov, or hit Moscow’s ability to raise money by banning Russian oil and gas exports — although Trudeau said all options are on the table.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Experts say there simply isn’t enough trade between Canada and Russia for even broad sanctions to really hurt Russia’s economy. However, Trudeau said it’s the cumulative impact of western countries sanctioning Russia that will have the greatest impact on Putin.
“Our trade relationship with Russia is negligible … By the same token, the impact of Canadian sanctions are also negligible if we just look at trade,” said Mark Manger, an associate professor at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy.
Part of the reason trade is so small, says Manger, is a whole lot of overlap.
“Canada, Russia and Ukraine export a lot of the same things. Nature is really destiny here. The three breadbaskets of the world are Canada, Ukraine and Russia,” said Manger, noting that commodities including wheat and oil are exported by all three countries.
Sanctions introduced by U.S. President Joe Biden included cutting off Russia’s five largest banks, freezing all their assets in the United States. The European Union states also agreed to freeze European assets of Putin and his foreign minister, Lavrov, which Canada has not done. EU countries are also cutting 70 per cent of Russia’s banking system.
Germany also halted the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project which transports oil from Russia to Germany. The project is worth almost $14 billion. .
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