Meet the Russians who Canada has sanctioned since the invasion of Ukraine

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This article was published 27/02/2022 (935 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Canada’s preferred tool to express outrage with Russia didn’t change with the invasion of Ukraine.

Since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea from its neighbouring country, the federal government has wielded economic sanctions to cut off choice Russian figures and businesses from Canada.

That sanctions campaign has escalated dramatically since Russian troops entered Ukraine on Feb. 24, with dozens of Russians now cut off from any business dealings with Canadians in what the government describes as a move that effectively freezes their assets in this country.

Here are the 89 Russian individuals Canada has sanctioned since the invasion, as of March 16. The names include at least 25 of the 35 people identified as key figures by the foundation of jailed Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny. (The list will be updated as more measures are taken.)

The president and his top lieutenants

On Feb. 25, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada would impose sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin, Putin’s chief of staff Anton Vaino and long-serving Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Canada has also slapped sanctions on former president and prime minister — and current deputy chair of Russia’s security council — Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev, Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Justice Minister Konstantin Chuychenko and Internal Affairs Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev.

The sanctions also target other public officials in Russia, including Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, former top government prosecutor Yury Chaika, and Russia’s top federal customs official, Vladimir Bulavin.

The sanctions also target federal district officials Igor Komarov, Vladimir Yakushev, Alexander Gutsan and Anatoly Seryshev.

Canada added two more government ministers to its sanctions list on March 6: Health Minister Mikhail Murashko and Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev. That same day, Canada slapped sanctions on Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary, and Pavel Krasheninnikov, deputy of the Russian state Duma.

On March 11, Trudeau announced more sanctions against Russian government officials. These included Ella Pamfilova, the chair of Russia’s election commission, Igor Yanchuk, a police chief in the Moscow region, and Elena Morozova, a judge from the same region who authorized Navalny’s arrest in 2021.

On March 14, the day before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded for more action from Canada in an address to Parliament, the government imposed sanctions on Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Grigorenko, acting emergency situations minister Aleksandr Chupriyan, and the country’s economic development minister, Maxim Reshetnikov.

The military financier

Nicknamed “Putin’s chef” for his background in the food business, 60-year-old Yevgeny Prigozhin is another sanctions target who is reportedly close to Putin. He is also widely reported to be a key financier of the “Wagner Group,” a shadowy private military contractor linked to the Kremlin.

Since 2018, Prigozhin has been wanted by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation for allegedly interfering in that country’s electoral process between 2014 and 2018, including during the 2016 presidential campaign. The FBI describes Prigozhin as the “primary funder” of Russia’s internet Research Agency, which has been described as an online “troll farm” accused of propagating misinformation around the world.

Prigozhin, his wife, daughter and son were placed on Canada’s sanctions list on Feb. 24, the day Russia invaded Ukraine.

The alleged killer

Dmitry Utkin is also widely associated with the Wagner Group. According to Foreign Policy magazine, Utkin used the name “Wagner” as a nom de guerre because of his affinity for the bombastic German composer. Utkin is a former military intelligence officer whom the European Union has accused of leading paramilitary operations in Ukraine before the Russian invasion. The EU also alleges Utkin “is responsible for serious human rights abuses” committed by the Wagner Group, including torture, summary executions and the filmed killing of a Syrian army deserter in 2017.

The bankroller

Kirill Dmitriev is the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, a wealth fund the Russian government created that reportedly manages $10 billion (U.S.) in assets. Born in 1975, he has been named a “young global leader” by the World Economic Forum and graduated from Stanford University in 1996, according to a biography for Transneft, the Russian state-owned pipeline company where he sits as a board member.

The U.S. government described Dmitriev as a “known Putin ally” who is relied upon by the Russian president’s “inner circle of cronies” to raise funds abroad.

Canada’s sanctions list also included Nikolai Tokarev, Transneft’s longtime president, as well as his wife Galina and daughter Maya.

The Chelsea owner with a Canadian connection

Perhaps the most recognizable Russian oligarch in the West, Roman Abramovich was placed on Canada’s sanctions list on March 11. He is often described as one of the prime beneficiaries of the mass privatization of industries in the post-Soviet 1990s, and is known as the billionaire owner of the Chelsea Football Club, one of the most storied sports franchises in the world.

Abramovich is also the biggest shareholder in Evraz, a Russian steel manufacturer with operations in Alberta and Saskatchewan that has provided the majority of the pipeline material used to build the government-owned Trans Mountain expansion project. Trudeau has said the sanctions against Abramovich won’t impact the steel company in Canada.

The military industrialist

Stanislav Chemezov is head of Rostec, a defence conglomerate in Moscow that includes the company that makes Kalashnikov rifles. According to Radio Free Europe, Chemezov is a long-time associate of the Russian president who worked with Putin in the KGB during the Soviet era.

The 2016 Panama Papers revealed his son owned a holding company in the British Virgin Islands that was seeking to build from a national fibre-optic network in Russia, supported by Chemezov’s corporation. The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project also published allegations in 2019 that Chemezov’s family and business associates own multi-million-euro villas in Spain.

Canada also sanctioned Chemezov’s wife, Ekaterina Ignatova, and his stepdaughter, Anastasiya.

Another target from Russia’s defence sector on Canada’s list is Yuri Slyusar, head of the United Aircraft Corporation that manufactures military and civilian aircraft.

Billionaire facing serious allegations

One of the oligarchs to rise from the post-Soviet era with a vast fortune worth billions of dollars, Oleg Deripaska was sanctioned by Canada on March 6. The founder of Rusal, a Russian aluminum giant, Deripaska was sanctioned by the United States in 2018, when the U.S. Treasury Department listed an array of allegations against him, including links to organized crime, bribery and ordering a businessman’s murder.

On March 7, Reuters quoted Deripaska calling for “peace” in Ukraine. “The whole world will be different after these events and Russia will be different,” he said.

The “favourite” oligarch with the superyacht

Described by the EU as one of Putin’s “favourite” oligarchs, Alisher Usmanov is a Russian multibillionaire whose company USM Holdings owns Russian iron-ore giant Mettaloinvest, cement producer Akkerman Cement, and the Russian telecom firm MegaFon.

The U.S. Treasury Department has alleged Usmanov has “financial ties” with Putin himself. He also owns what the U.S. described as “one of the world’s largest super-yachts,” which he named “Dilbar” after his mother. It apparently has two helipads, holds a massive indoor pool, and is worth at least $763 million.

Army brass

On March 14, Canada sanctioned a host of high-ranking Russian naval officers: Nikolai Yevmenov, the commander-in-chief of the Russian navy; vice-admirals Vladimir Kasatonov, Andrei Volozhinsky and Sergey Pinchuk; Black Sea fleet officers Igor Osipov and Arkadiy Romanov,

The sanctions also hit aerospace officers, including commander-in-chief Sergey Surovikin, air force commander Sergey Dronov, Col. Mikhail Mizintev, Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov and General Dmitry Kochnev.

Security officials

The Russian Federal Security Service, often known as the FSB, is generally seen as the successor institution to the infamous Soviet secret police called the KGB. On March 6, Canada imposed sanctions on two FSB officials: Victor Gavrilov, head of the department that has been blamed for arresting Navalny, the Russian opposition figure; and Dmitry Ivanov, another FSB official named on Navalny’s list who is head of the security services branch in the city of Chelyabinsk.

Canada also sanctioned Sergei Korolev, first deputy director of the FSB, on March 14.

Energy executives

On March 4, Canada slapped sanctions against 10 high-ranking figures in Russia’s energy sector. That included executives from Russian oil giant Rosneft: Zeljko Runje, Didier Casimiro, Ilgam Kuchukov, Dina Malikova, Valentin Mamaev, Andrey Polyakov and Khasan Tatriev.

The sanctions also hit executives from Gazprom, the Russian state-owned natural gas giant. These included top figures Alexey Miller, Irina Milytina and Oleg Aksyutin.

Russian media

On March 6, Canada placed three prominent players from Russia’s tightly controlled media on its sanctions list. This included television host Vladimir Solovyov; Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of Russia’s state TV station, RT; and Konstantin Ernst, CEO of Russia’s Channel One TV station.

Oligarchs’ sons

The son of former Russian defence minister and deputy prime minister Sergei Borisovich Ivanov, Sergei Ivanov Jr. is president of the state-owned Alrosa diamond company, according to the U.S. government. He is also on the board of Gazprombank, a major Russian bank.

Ivanov Jr.’s father was already sanctioned by Canada before the Ukrainian invasion.

Like Ivanov Jr., Ivan Sechin is joining his father — Igor Sechin, the chief executive of Russian oil giant Rosneft — on Canada’s sanctions list. According to the U.S. government, Ivan Sechin is a deputy head of a Rosneft department.

Another child of Putin’s inner circle, Andrey Patrushev is a Russian oil executive. His father, Nikolai, is secretary of the president’s security council, and has reportedly known Putin since the 1970s, when they worked together in the Soviet secret service. A public inquiry into the 2006 poisoning of a former Russian spy in the United Kingdom concluded the operation was “probably approved” by Nikolai Patrushev.

Canada has sanctioned Nikolai Patrushev since August 2016.

The social media tycoon

Vladimir Kiriyenko is the chief executive of VK Group, the parent company of Russia’s biggest social media network, VKontakte. Based in St. Petersburg, the site boasts more than 100 million users, and is like a Russian version of Facebook.

The “liberal” banker

Former Russian minister of trade Herman Gref is the top executive of Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank. The Financial Times described him in 2016 as a “pro-Western reformer” and “one of the leading liberals” in Putin’s inner circle, who led efforts to bring Russia into the World Trade Organization in 2012.

Canada also hit Lev Khasis, another Sberbank executive, with sanctions.

More bank executives

The U.S. describes Andrey Puchkov and Yuri Solovyov as high-ranking executives with VTB Bank, Russia’s second-largest bank that is a “critical artery” of the country’s financial system. Canada also sanctioned Solovyov’s wife, Galina Ulyutina, and Denis Bortnikov, son of the head of Russia’s security service and also a top executive at VTB.

Another two financial executives on Canada’s sanctions list include: Igor Shuvalov, former deputy prime minister and head of VEB. RF, Russia’s national economic development institution; Sberbank executive Aleksandr Vedyakhin; and Petr Fradkov, chief executive officer of the state-controlled bank, Promsvyazbank.

The Rotenbergs

In April 2014, after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine, Canada sanctioned a series of companies and individuals. These included Arkady Rotenberg and his brother Boris, Russian billionaires who used to own the country’s two biggest construction companies.

Now, after the invasion of Ukraine, Canada has expanded its sanctions to include Boris and Arkady’s children: businesswoman Liliya Rotenberg, St. Petersburg hockey player Pavel Rotenberg, Moscow soccer player Boris Rotenberg, and Russian hockey executive Roman Rotenberg.

Canada also sanctioned Boris’s wife, Karina Rotenberg.

Alex Ballingall is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @aballinga