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Canada imposing new sanctions related to Russian 'illegal elections'

A man casts his ballot at a polling station during local elections in Donetsk, the capital of Russian-controlled Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023. Russian authorities on Sunday reported multiple attempts to sabotage voting in local elections taking place in occupied areas of Ukraine. (AP Photo) A man casts his ballot at a polling station during local elections in Donetsk, the capital of Russian-controlled Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023. Russian authorities on Sunday reported multiple attempts to sabotage voting in local elections taking place in occupied areas of Ukraine. (AP Photo)
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Canada is imposing new sanctions against 30 Russian nationals who ran as candidates in Kremlin-organized elections held in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

When the elections were held back in September, G7 foreign ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States condemned them as a "sham."

Russia annexed the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine following its invasion in 2022 and Crimea in 2014.

Ottawa announced the new sanctions Tuesday. They are being levelled against individuals who ran as candidates for positions in the Russian-occupied parts of Kherson Oblast in southern Ukraine.

The federal government said these "so-called elections" aim to legitimize Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine and violate Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the United Nations Charter.

“We continue to condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia’s illegal and unjustifiable war of aggression against Ukraine. Russia had absolutely no legitimate basis to hold elections in these territories," Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said in a statement Tuesday.

“Today, we are sending a strong message to the Kremlin to remind them that Canada will never recognize these regions as Russian territory.” 

UKRAINE-RUSSIA WAR LANDING PAGE

Since 2014, the government has imposed sanctions on more than 2,800 individuals and entities in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova “who are complicit in the violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Canada’s new sanctions come days after Ukraine denounced Russia's plan to organize presidential election voting in occupied Ukrainian territory on March 17, 2024, saying the balloting should be "null and void.” Any international observers sent to monitor the Russian election would "face criminal responsibility," Ukrainian officials added. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who announced his candidacy for re-election last week, is considered the likely winner of another six-year term.

With files from The Associated Press

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