Russia hits 9 Canadian officers with sanctions – KIRO 7 Information Seattle

MOSCOW – (AP) – Russia on Monday targeted nine Canadian officials with sanctions in retaliation for Canada’s restrictions on Russian officials accused of involvement in the detention of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said the Canadian officials who are indefinitely banned from entering Russia include David Lametti, Canada’s Justice Minister and Attorney General, Brenda Lucki, the Canadian Police Commissioner, and Anne Kelly, the country’s law enforcement officer.

The Russian sanctions also targeted Dominic LeBlanc, Minister for Intergovernmental Affairs, Marci Surkes, Political Director to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Jody Thomas, Deputy Minister for the National Defense Ministry. Also affected by Russian sanctions were Lieutenant General Mike Rouleau of the Canadian Forces and Rear Admiral Scott Bishop, head of the Military Intelligence Command, and Brian Brennan. a deputy police commissioner.

The Russian travel ban on Canadian officials follows similar sanctions Moscow previously imposed on US and European officials in response to its restrictions on Russian officials.

Navalny, the staunchest political opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was arrested in January after returning from Germany, where he was recovering for five months from neurotoxin poisoning he attributes to the Kremlin – allegations Russian officials deny. European laboratories have confirmed that Navalny was poisoned.

In February Navalny was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for violating a suspended sentence in Germany. The verdict comes from a 2014 embezzlement conviction that Navalny condemned as politically motivated.

Russia has rejected US and EU criticism of Navalny’s detention and of Russia’s crackdown on protests demanding his release as interference in its internal affairs.

Tensions over Navalny exacerbated Russia’s relations with the West, which sank to post-Cold War lows as a result of Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula in 2014, allegations of Moscow meddling in elections and hacker attacks.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Sakharova said in a statement that Moscow remains open to “developing our relations on the basis of mutual respect and with an emphasis on cooperation on areas such as Arctic issues, relations between regions and business relations in which our interests are concerned lie”. converge objectively. “

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