Canada announces its first set of sanctions against Russia due to Ukraine crisis

Canada announces its first set of sanctions against Russia due to the Ukraine crisis. 

Canadian Premier Justin Trudeau on Tuesday announced the initial round of sanctions against Russia one day after Moscow acknowledged that the Ukraine region of separatism Donetsk and Luhansk are autonomous.

The United States, the European Union, Germany, and Britain have also revealed ways to penalize Russia in the financial sense if they believe that a new attack is about to be made, something Moscow has repeated denials for many months.

The Russian-backed separatists from Donetsk and Luhansk retreated from the Ukrainian government in 2014. 

They declared their independence as “people’s republics” after deposing a pro-Moscow Ukrainian president in Kyiv.

MORE: Japan imposes sanctions against Russia due to the actions of Russia in Ukraine.

Trudeau declared that his government will prohibit Canadians from any financial transactions involving those referred to as “independent states” of Luhansk and Donetsk. 

The minister said that Canada will also prohibit Canadians from buying in Russian government debts.

The Canadian premier said that his government would sanction those in the Russian parliament that voted in favor of the decision to accept Donetsk and Luhansk in their independence.

Canada will also impose sanctions against two state-owned Russian banks and stop any financial transactions with the banks, Trudeau said.

Trudeau added that the government was authorized to send more troops to the region.

“So today, I am also authorizing the deployment of up to 460 members of the Canadian Armed Forces to Operation Reassurance. This involves more troops to Latvia, as well as the deployment of an additional frigate and maritime patrol aircraft,” the official said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian troops to the eastern part of Ukraine declaring that they are on the ground to “keep the peace.” Trudeau said the move was “a clear incursion of Ukraine’s sovereignty.”

“Make no mistake: this is a further invasion of a sovereign state and it is unacceptable,” said the official, noting that the situation is “not too late” for Russia to try to negotiate a resolution.

The weeks of intense diplomacy have been unsuccessful as Moscow insists on security assurances, including a pledge that its neighbor Ukraine will not be a member of NATO.