Canada imposes fresh sanctions on Russia’s oil, gas sector and chemical industry

Retaliating to Russia's continued military offensive in Ukraine, the Canadian government recently slapped further sanctions against Russia's chemical and oil industries, according to the Canadian foreign ministry. The official statement by the ministry even noted that Canada has added 8 more industries to the list and further revised "the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations on July 14, 2022" to restrict the provision of two manufacturing services to the Russian oil, gas, chemical, and manufacturing industries, TASS reported.  

As per the document, an array of services, including the ones incidental to the production of fabricated metal goods, motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers, computer, electronic, and optical items, electronic devices, as well as other sectors are barred from being provided to the Russian side by citizens of Canada as well as companies.  

Furthermore, these measures were presented on Saturday by Melanie Joly, the Foreign Minister of Canada. She stated that Canadian firms will have only 60 days after the measures go into effect to finalise contracts with the targeted products and services. 

Besides this, Vladimir Proskuryakov, Minister Counselor at the Russian Embassy in Canada, told TASS that the embargoes were ineffective and would have a detrimental impact on Canada as well. Indicating the sanctions, he said, “We believe that yet another round of sanctions is totally groundless and counter-productive. As we have repeatedly warned, all economic sanctions are a double-edged sword and will certainly boomerang on Canada," TASS reported.  

Canada's embargoes on Russia

In May, additional sanctions had been announced by the Canadian government on 22 Russian nationals and 4 organisations. Canada had targeted important financial institutions and banks as well as prominent Russian financial institutions' senior leaders and their families. The sanctions, according to the Canadian government's news release, were put in place to increase pressure on the Russian government to put a stop to its conflict with Ukraine. Alina Kabaeva, the alleged girlfriend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is among those who have been targeted, Nexta reported. 

In an effort to put additional pressure on Putin, according to CTV reports, Canada's Foreign Minister Joly announced further penalties on Putin's government on May 20, including a ban on the imports of Russian vodka, caviar, and diamonds. 

Additionally, Justin Trudeau's government has banned the export of cigarettes, alcoholic drinks, designer clothing, athletic footwear, and sportswear to Moscow. The sanctions also forbid Canada from exporting to Russia any jewelry, works of art, or even utensils. 14 other people, including Russian oligarchs with connections to the Russian Federation, were also being sanctioned by Joly. 

(Image: AP)