Russia has to impose sanctions against Canadian citizens in response to hostile actions of the government in Ottawa, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
The Ministry published a list of 592 Canadian citizens that are permanently barred from entering Russia.
“We are stressing that these sanctions are being imposed by the Russian side exclusively as a forced reaction to hostile actions of the Canadian leadership,” the statement said.
“Russia seeks mutually respectful and good-neighborly relations with the Canadian people, and is urging the government in Ottawa to reject the Russophobic course, which strips the country of independence in foreign policy, and which doesn’t meet its national interests.”
“In connection with the appeals received by the Foreign Ministry from Canadian political and public figures who are interested in Russian response measures to the unprecedented personal sanctions imposed by Ottawa against Russian citizens, a list of names of Canadian citizens who are permanently banned from entering the Russian Federation has been published on the official website of the Russian Foreign Ministry,” the ministry said, attaching a link to the list.
The list includes Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand, Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development Mary Ng, Communications Director of the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada Cameron Ahmad, and other officials, parliamentarians, public figures and journalists.
