Vladimir Putin bans Justin Trudeau and hundreds of other Canadians from Russia

OTTAWA — Russia barred more than 300 Canadians from entering its territory on Tuesday, as it retaliated against Canada and the United States over the growing array of economic sanctions imposed in response to its invasion of Ukraine.

the blacklisted Canadians include most elected members of the House of Commons, from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and all three official opposition leaders, to a host of front-bench cabinet ministers and MPs from all parties.

Among those banned from entering Russia are Canada’s chief of the defense staff, Gen. Wayne Eyre, House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota, top officials from the Ukrainian Canadian Congress — a group representing the 1.4-million-strong Ukrainian diaspora in Canada — and all eight board members of the group behind Ottawa’s planned memorial to the victims of communism.

Russia also moved Tuesday to impose sanctions on top American officials, including entry bans on US President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Reaction to the Russian retaliation ranged from defiance to expressions of pride and outright ridicule.

Speaking to reporters after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered a virtual plea for further support to Canada’s Parliament, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly — who was one of the cabinet members Russia blacklisted — was dismissive.

“I’m not surprised and I won’t back down,” Joly said.

On social media, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress released a one-line statement attributed to the group’s national president, Alexandra Chyczij. “LOL,” it said.

Ludwik Klimkowski, the chair of a group called Tribute to Freedom, was also banned from Russia along with the rest of his organization’s board of directors. The group is behind the planned memorial to the victims of communism in Ottawa.

In an interview with the Star, Klimkowski said he had only just heard his name was on the Russian blacklist, and that he was “overjoyed to be in the company” of Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who was banned from Russia after the 2014 annexation of Crimea.

“It’s one of those days where you should be proud of your work,” Klimkowski said. “Clearly, (Russian President) Vladimir Putin, being a washed-up ex-KGB (officer), doesn’t like the idea of ​​us Canadians commemorating and really celebrating the lives of those who resisted communism.”

The retaliation comes almost three weeks after Canada imposed its first round of sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Since then, Canada has frozen the assets of dozens of Russian officials and oligarchs tied to Putin’s regime, including Putin himself, top ministers and security officials. Canada’s sanctions also hit wealthy barons of modern Russia like Roman Abramovich, a billionaire who owns one of the UK’s top soccer clubs, as well as a major stake in a Russian steel company with operations in Canada that supplied the majority of oil pipeline material for the government-owned Trans Mountain expansion project.

The federal government announced sanctions against another 15 Russians on Tuesday, pleading to continue increasing the economic pain for Russia and to push Putin toward a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University, said there is a limit to how much economic pain Russia could inflict on Canada with sanctions of its own, given the relatively limited trade that flowed between the countries, which before the war amounted to less than 0.2 per cent of Canada’s total global trade.

He called Russia’s travel bans against Trudeau and other cabinet members “symbolic,” and said the move mirrors Russia’s response to Canadian sanctions after it annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, when the Kremlin banned Freeland and others from entering the country. I have suggested the blacklists against government leaders would have little practical impact, given Canada’s staunch support for Ukraine and the small likelihood Trudeau or other cabinet ministers would travel to Russia during the current conflict.

“We are not an intermediary between Russia and the West. We are a NATO country and we are strongly in that camp with the United States,” Béland said.

“It’s the price to pay to be part of that coalition, but frankly it’s a very small price to pay.”