‘This must end in Putin’s failure’: Trudeau
TRENTON, Canada
Saying “this must end in Putin’s failure,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday new sanctions against Russians and the issuance of bonds to raise money for the beleaguered country.
“Canadians will now be able to go to major banks to purchase their sovereignty bonds which will mature after five years with interest,” Trudeau said at a meeting of the XXVII Triennial Congress of Ukrainian Canadians in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The government-backed five-year bonds will see money flow to Ukraine through the International Monetary Fund to help Ukrainians maintain essential services such as pensions and fuel purchases.
“This builds on the Government of Canada’s CAN$2 billion (US$1.47 billion) in financial assistance to Ukraine this year,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
“It’s one more way Canadians are able to stand with Ukraine,” Trudeau said of the bonds.
The new sanctions target 35 Russian senior officials, including leaders with energy company Gazprom and six energy sector entities.
Canada also intends to impose new sanctions on members of the Russian justice and security sectors, including police officers and investigators, prosecutors, judges, and prison officials “involved in gross and systematic human rights violations against Russian opposition leaders,” the PMO statement said. Canada has already imposed sanctions against over 1,400 individuals and entities.
Trudeau also announced the creation of the Canada-Ukraine Science Partnership, which will see up to 20 Ukraine-based scientists come to work and live in Canada to help the country rebuild its science and research capacity.
That Trudeau made the bond and sanctions announcement in Manitoba is significant, as the province has welcomed almost 12,000 Ukrainians since the Russia-Ukraine War began in February.
Canada has the second-largest Ukrainian diaspora in the world (after Russia) and Manitoba has more than 180,000 who identify as Ukrainian.
