Canada will impose sanctions against nine Russians

Canada intends to impose sanctions against nine Russians and nine citizens of Belarus in connection with the military operation in Ukraine, the Canadian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Their names are not specified.

“The measures being prepared will impose restrictions on nine Russians and nine Belarusians for allowing and contributing to violations of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine. These people are close to the Russian and Belarusian regimes,” the ministry said in a release.

The decision was made against the backdrop of reports of what happened in the Ukrainian city of Bucha. On the eve of April 3, the Ukrainian authorities and Western media began to distribute photos from Bucha. Reuters reported that the photographs showed the bodies of local residents. The mayor of the city Anatoly Fedoruk, in a conversation with AFP, said that these people were shot dead.

Moscow denies the involvement of the Russian Armed Forces in the killings. The Ministry of Defense called the publication of photographs with bodies on the streets of Bucha a provocation and stated that the Russian military did not harm the locals while they were in the city, and on March 30 they left it. The Kremlin called the materials that appeared fakes and video forgery.