Canada has imposed a new round of sanctions on Russia’s media industry in an effort to disrupt what it says is a disinformation campaign about the war in Ukraine.
The sanctions target Russian news agencies, television stations and journalists, including Petr Akopov, who wrote approvingly about the justification for President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and Tigran Keosayan, a presenter on pro-Kremlin television.
The sanctions come as Ottawa launched a webpage correcting misinformation about the invasion of Ukraine and countering it with facts.
Global Affairs Canada said in a statement that the site will be continually updated to “shed light on how the Russian regime is using lies to justify its illegal, unprovoked and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine.”
Among the 29 people on the latest sanctions list is also Vladimir Sungorkin, editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda, described by President Putin as his favorite newspaper.
Russian broadcaster RT has already been banned from the Canadian airwaves after ministers accused it of spreading Kremlin-inspired propaganda about the invasion of Ukraine.
But the latest round of sanctions hits RT directly as well as Russian broadcasters Sputnik, Channel One Russia and the All-Russian State Broadcasting and Television Corporation (VGTRK), whose chief executive, Oleg Dobrodeev, is also sanctioned.
Long-established Russian news agency TASS is also on the latest list, along with Gazprom Media, which owns a series of television and radio stations.
Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said in a statement that “the Russian propaganda machine must answer for its lies.”
“Canada is committed to countering disinformation wherever it is and at all times,” she said. “Today we make it clear to those who peddle deceit: you will be held accountable. Canada stands with Ukraine”.
The new sanctions list also includes Russian author and journalist Yevgeniy Prilepin, TV host and documentary filmmaker Arkady Mamontov as well as Irina Volk, a well-known spokeswoman for the Russian ministry.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, Canada has imposed sanctions on more than 1,150 individuals and organizations in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
He has coordinated sanctions with European Union allies as well as the United States and the United Kingdom to prevent the Russians from exploiting loopholes.
Global Affairs Canada explains that the new wave of sanctions against Russia targets “agents of state-sponsored disinformation and propaganda”.
Minister Joly is currently attending the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Summit in Bali, Indonesia, which is also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
She told The Canadian Press that she intended to expose Russian lies and confront her counterpart Lavrov with the facts at the summit, and that she was not going to shake his hand.
In March, Mélanie Joly and other participants at a United Nations meeting in Geneva left the room when Minister Lavrov, whom Canada had sanctioned a few days earlier, began to speak.