FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
24 March 2014
RUSSIA IMPOSES SANCTIONS ON CANADIANS
Today, the Russian Federation imposed travel bans against 13 Canadian parliamentarians, officials and community leaders. Among those now banned from travelling to the Russian Federation is the National President of Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Paul Grod. Grod is in Ukraine meeting with government, political leaders and non-governmental organization leaders, from where he issued the following statement:
The Russian Federation’s decision to impose travel bans on several Canadians, including myself, is a sign that the sanctions and travel bans imposed by the West have started to resonate. If, as several Russian officials have claimed, the West’s sanctions are having no effect, why would they retaliate? I congratulate all those who join me on this list – it is for me an honour to be considered persona non grata by a repressive, authoritarian regime that occupies and annexes the sovereign territory of a neighboring country, and systematically violates international law, its obligations to other countries, and the rights and freedoms of its own citizens.
The UCC welcomes the decision made today by the member states of the G7 to “condemn the illegal referendum in Crimea,” and “strongly condemn Russia’s illegal attempt to annex Crimea in contravention of international law and specific international obligations.”
The G7 has decided to exclude Russia from the G8. The full statement from the leaders of the G7 may be found at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/24/hague-declaration
