A billionaire with close ties to the Kremlin has been sanctioned by the British government, resulting in trading in Evraz being suspended on the London Stock Exchange.
On Thursday, the United Kingdom placed billionaire Roman Abramovich on a sanctions list, due to his links with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The sanctions mean that Abramovich’s assets in the U.K. are frozen, and he cannot enter or stay in Britain.
Among other holdings, Abramovich owns 28.6 per cent of shares in Evraz, a massive steel company with Canadian plants located in Regina, Calgary, Camrose, Alta., and Red Deer, Alta.
Soon after the sanctions were announced, Britain’s financial watchdog suspended trading on Evraz. Before trading was suspended, shares in the company dropped 16 per cent after the sanctions were announced.
A screenshot of Evraz stock prices on the London Stock Exchange. (London Stock Exchange)
According to Britain’s official sanctions list, the government was concerned about Evraz’s potential role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The list says Evraz “is or has been involved in providing financial services, or making available funds, economic resources, goods or technology that could contribute to destabilising Ukraine or undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty or independence of Ukraine.”
That “includes potentially supplying steel to the Russian military which may have been used in the production of tanks,” according to the British sanctions update.
Impact on Regina steel workers
Premier Scott Moe says that steel produced by Evraz in Saskatchewan is not used in global operations.
“The operations in Regina do provide North American steel for just that — steel fabrication — as well as pipelines for our energy industry,” Moe told reporters at the Legislative Building in Regina on Thursday.
He noted the United Steelworkers, which represents Evraz Steel workers, issued “correspondence last week indicating or clarifying that separation of operations that they have.”
The March 4 statement from the union said Evraz North America “operates independently in Regina and Calgary, in all areas, including procurement of raw materials, operating production facilities and corporate financing.”
CBC has reached out to United Steelworkers for further comment.
Moe says he has full confidence that steel mills across Canada will continue to operate under the status quo. He said he doesn’t foresee any job losses in Regina due to the U.K. sanctions.
“In fact, as we have this energy security conversation in Canada and North America, the future should look fairly bright for a company like Evraz, that can provide that steel infrastructure,” he said.
On Monday, Canada added another 10 Russians to its sanctions list. Abramovich has not been added to that list so far.
Robert Huish, an associate professor of international development studies at Dalhousie University, says if Canada does invoke sanctions on Abramovich, livelihoods need to be considered.
“Right now, the U.K. sanctions are really targeting the big symbols of the oligarchs, which are sports teams and luxury yachts. So it’s not going to make an impact immediately for people who are going to work in Regina,” said Huish.
“But it invites that conversation to say that if new measures are put in place, what can be done to ensure that nobody is going to lose their livelihood?”
If Canada does invoke more sanctions, Huish said it’s unclear right now exactly how Canadians will be affected.
“What’s complicated about sanctions and what we’re going to see happen in Saskatchewan is that it will impact people in indirect ways that we haven’t forecasted,” he said.
“Sanctions are like a glass hammer. You try to impose them, they look really threatening. And then when they strike, they shatter in a bunch of directions that you don’t see coming.”
Meanwhile, the province’s Official Opposition said Evraz Steel needs to have a change in ownership.
“It can no longer be in the hands of Abramovich, and all of these Russian oligarchs that are needing to have their sources of funds [cut off] so that Putin’s ability to bankroll his illegal invasion is ended,” said NDP Leader Ryan Meili.
Meili acknowledged the international implications of sanctions are complicated, but said any transfer of ownership should not benefit the oligarchs. He also said that steelworkers should be part of the conversation.
Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters that Canadian companies could suffer collateral damage as Canada considered more sanctions against Russian oligarchs with ties to Putin.
Abramovich also owns famed West London football club FC Chelsea. The sanctions mean he cannot sell the football team and Chelsea cannot sell new tickets to matches.
Abramovich’s spokeswoman declined immediate comment to the news agency Reuters.
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.
