Canada today imposed new sanctions on nine Russian officials in response to the silencing and human rights abuses of Kremlin critics such as Alexei Nalvany. Nalvany is now behind bars after being rehabilitated from poisoning.
“The Russian government has repeatedly demonstrated that it has no intention of respecting the fundamental rights of its own people,” Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau said in a statement.
Garneau said Canada and its allies will continue to pressure Moscow to release Navalny and his “illegally detained” supporters.
“There will be no lack of response to Russia’s gross violations of human rights,” he said.
The European Union (EU) and the United States took similar action earlier this month.
Navalny, a stalwart of the Russian opposition, was poisoned by the Novichok nerve agent last year and nearly killed, then treated in Germany.
He was detained immediately upon his return to Russia in January, prompting condemnation from the West and calls from the U.S. and EU for his release.
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