The Canadian government has announced new sanctions against "Russian collaborators" in Moldova.
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly announced Tuesday that the sanctions are being imposed against nine Moldovan individuals "associated with influential oligarchs," as well as six television stations that "actively promote and disseminate Russian disinformation to justify Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine."
"Today, we are sending a clear message to malign individuals and entities in Moldova that supporting Putin’s unprovoked and unjustifiable full-scale invasion of Ukraine will not go unpunished," Joly said in a statement.
"We continue to condemn this war in the strongest possible terms and reaffirm our unwavering support for Moldova and Ukraine as they defend their independence, rights and freedoms against the Kremlin’s aggressive actions."
Many of the newly sanctioned individuals are associated with the oligarch Ilan Mironovich Shor — who has already been sanctioned by Canada, according to the statement — and with his political party, for “continued efforts to destabilize” the Moldovan government.
The statement adds that the Shor Party has been a “conduit for Russian narratives about Moldova and Ukraine” for nearly a decade.
As part of a new round of measures targeting Russian collaborators in Moldova, Canada’s first round of sanctions against Moldovan entities was last June, according to the statement.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu’s visited Canada the month prior, at which time Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed to efforts to counter Russia’s “destabilization” efforts in Moldova, as well as its “ability to continue its unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine through Moldova.”
“As Russia threatens to leverage its presence on Moldovan territory to draw the country into the war of aggression against Ukraine, these new sanctions will undermine Russia’s efforts to restrain Moldova’s national government from exercising full sovereignty over its territory,” Global Affairs Canada (GAC) said in a statement at the time.
Canada has sanctioned more than 2,700 individuals and entities across Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova since 2014, according to GAC, with 1,900 of those sanctions imposed since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
More than 2,100 of Canada’s sanctions are against individuals, while more than 600 are against entities, according to the federal government.
With files from CTVNews.ca’s Senior Digital Parliamentary Reporter Rachel Aiello
