OTTAWA —
From top politicians to influential oligarchs and media figures, Canada has slapped sanctions on high-profile Russians, including President Vladimir Putin, as he continues his unjustified and deadly attack on Ukraine.
In light of the current invasion, the government has targeted those who federal officials say have enabled Putin and this war, with financial and other penalties.
This builds on the multiple rounds of sanctions and other responsive measures Canada has imposed on Russia since its 2014 occupation and annexation of Crimea.
In an immediate response to the 2022 attacks on Ukraine, Canada updated its sanction list twice. First, to add 351 members of the state Duma, a handful of entities, and to impose new prohibitions on Russian sovereign debt. In the second instance, another 31 individuals and 19 entities were sanctioned.
Then, moving in lockstep with other allied countries, Canada has continued to add to its sanctions list in smaller and more thematically-targeted batches three more times since.
Imposed under the Special Economic Measures Act—which has also been used to ban Russian ships, and halt Russian bank transactions in Canada—as of Feb. 24, Canada has sanctioned 69 key individuals, and is vowing more will come until Russia stops its attack.
So who has been hit by these asset freezes and other prohibitions? CTVNews.ca has dug through the list to figure out who is who.
THE POLITICOS AND SENIOR OFFICIALS
In addition to sanctioning Putin directly in late February, Canada has targeted more than a dozen top government and political officials in Russia, as well as former players and their close associates.
This has included sanctioning Putin’s chief of staff Anton Vaino as well as Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and his deputy Yury Trutnev.
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, justice minister Konstantin Chuychenko, minister of finance Anton Siluanov, internal affairs minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, health minister Mikhail Murashko; and minister of agriculture Dmitry Patrushev have found themselves on the sanction list, too.
Canada has also levied sanctions on the Mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin, Russia’s former president and current deputy chair of the Security Council of Russia Dmitry Medvedev.
THE OLIGARCHS AND INDUSTRY GIANTS
In addition to putting direct pressure on Putin’s political inner circle, Canada has attempted to pressure Putin through some of his closest allies among Russia’s elite.
This has included imposing sanctions on a number of that country’s powerful oligarchs who used personal connections after the collapse of the Soviet Union to take over previously state-owned industries to profit from Russia’s new capitalism.
Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska is one of the latest wealthy Russians to be targeted, despite recently calling for peace. At one point the richest person in Russia, Deripaska is the founder of Basic Element, a Russian industrial group with stakes in aluminum and other sectors, according to Forbes.
Russian metals magnate Oleg Deripaska in Moscow, Russia, on July 2, 2015. (Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP)
Another sanctioned oligarch is former KGB agent Sergei Chemezov. He is the CEO of state-owned defence conglomerate Rostec and has about $400 million worth of assets, including a real estate company in Ireland and a superyacht, according to Pandora Papers documents.
Nikolai Tokarev is among those who have been sanctioned. He is president of Transneft, a state-owned pipeline transport company responsible for transporting 90 per cent of Russia’s oil, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. He also served alongside Putin in the KGB during the 1980s.
Another sanctioned oligarch with ties to Putin is Yevgeny Prigozhin of the Internet Research Agency (IRA), which has also been described as a “Russian troll farm,” according to Reuters. The FBI have accused Prigozhin of allegedly interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
The Rotenberg brothers – Boris and Arkady – have also been sanctioned. They own Russia’s SMP bank and oversaw construction of a bridge between Russia and Crimea in 2018. Other members of their family have also been added to Canada’s sanctions list, including Boris’ wife Karina and Arkady’s hockey-player son Pavel.
In early March, Canada moved to sanction another 10 energy sector executives: Seven from Moscow-based oil giant Rosneft, and a trio from Gazprom, a largely state-owned natural gas corporation headquartered in Saint Petersburg that the Rotenberg family has ties to.
THE COMMUNICATORS
The government has also gone after what they have described as “agents of disinformation.”
This has included adding Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov to the sanction list, as well as editor-in-chief of state-television network RT Margarita Simonyan.
In this Jan. 19, 2018, file photo, Margarita Simonyan, the head of the Russian television channel RT, listens to a question during her interview with the Associated Press in Moscow, Russia. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
Canada has sanctioned Vladimir Kiriyenko, the CEO of VK Group, a major internet provider in Russia known for the VKontakte social network, essentially Russia’s version of Facebook, according to Reuters.
CEO of Channel One Russia Konstantin Ernst and TV host Vladimir Solovyov have also been sanctioned.
With files from CTV National News Senior Political Correspondent Glen McGregor, and CTV News’ Brooklyn Neustaeter
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
