Canada hits Putin directly, imposing severe financial sanctions on Russia's president, other 'architects of barbaric war'
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a third set of sanctions due to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's "brutal" and "needless" attack on Ukraine.
"The world is witnessing the horrors of President Putin's war of choice," Trudeau said on Friday. "It is an atrocity for Ukraine's sovereign 40 million innocent citizens and for the world."
"President Putin has opened the darkest chapter yet in his assault on the Ukrainian people but he has made a grave miscalculation. People around the world, including in the streets of Moscow and St. Petersburg, are standing against his brutal and unnecessary war. They are standing with Ukraine, as are all of us."
The prime minister announced Canada will be imposing financial sanctions on Putin and his fellow "architects of this barbaric war," including his chief of staff and foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.
"These men bear the greatest responsibility for the death and destruction occurring in Ukraine," Trudeau said.
Additionally, Canada’s supports the removal of Russia from the Swift payment system, which allows for the movement of money across borders.
"Excluding Russian banks from Swift would make it even more difficult for President Putin to finance his brutalities," Trudeau said.
"He cannot expect to overturn and end 75 years of peace with a violent and unprovoked attack on an innocent neighbour, and still expect to be able to benefit from the financial system and economic opportunities that, that very peace has created over the past 75 years."
Canada will also levy additional sanctions on Belarus and its leader for abetting Putin's invasion of Ukraine, targeting 57 individuals.
The prime minister added that the federal government will match every donation made to the Canadian Red Cross Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal, up to $10 million.
Trudeau recognized that this is "unlikely to end quickly" and Canada needs to beee "firm and resolved" over "possibly the long haul."
