Canada is imposing new sanctions against 30 Russian nationals who ran as candidates in Kremlin-organized elections held in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

When the elections were held back in September, G7 foreign ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States

Russia annexed the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine following its invasion in 2022 and Crimea in 2014.

Ottawa announced the new sanctions Tuesday. They are being levelled against individuals who ran as candidates for positions in the Russian-occupied parts of Kherson Oblast in southern Ukraine.

The federal government said these "so-called elections" aim to legitimize Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine and violate Ukraine鈥檚 independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the United Nations Charter.

鈥淲e continue to condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia鈥檚 illegal and unjustifiable war of aggression against Ukraine. Russia had absolutely no legitimate basis to hold elections in these territories," Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said in a statement Tuesday.

鈥淭oday, we are sending a strong message to the Kremlin to remind them that Canada will never recognize these regions as Russian territory.鈥� 

UKRAINE-RUSSIA WAR LANDING PAGE

Since 2014, the government has imposed sanctions on more than 2,800 individuals and entities in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova 鈥渨ho are complicit in the violation of Ukraine鈥檚 sovereignty and territorial integrity.鈥�

Canada鈥檚 new sanctions come days after Ukraine denounced Russia's plan to organize presidential election voting in occupied Ukrainian territory on March 17, 2024, saying the balloting should be "null and void.鈥� Any international observers sent to monitor the Russian election would "face criminal responsibility," Ukrainian officials added. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who announced his candidacy for re-election last week, is considered the likely winner of another six-year term.

With files from The Associated Press

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