Canada wants to become the first G7 country to use Russian assets to finance aid to Ukraine with these funds, and announced on Wednesday (27) new economic sanctions against 203 people considered “accomplices” of Moscow in its attempt to annex the Donbass region.

“We are looking for the ability not only to learn, but to authorize the confiscation of assets of sanctioned individuals and entities and allow us to compensate the (Ukrainian) victims afterwards,” the Canadian Foreign Minister said on Wednesday. Melanie Joy.

In statements given to the press, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assured that Canada was looking for “ways to further punish” Russia, in order to confiscate the property of those who were sanctioned by the offensive against Ukraine.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, launched on February 24, Canada has imposed sanctions on “more than 1,100 people and entities” considered accomplices of the government of Vladimir Putin. Several of these sanctions were taken in coordination with its European allies and the United States.

“We are the first G7 country to offer this new resource because we think it will work,” explained the Canadian minister, although she said she had “no clear estimates” of the amount that could be raised with this. new mechanism.

Mélanie Joly however affirmed that “the assets of the Russian oligarchs in Canada are considerable”.

In addition to this new provision presented to Parliament on Tuesday, Canada also announced new sanctions, this time against “11 officials and 192 members of the people’s councils of the so-called people’s republics of Luhansk and Donetsk”, in the Donbass.

“Canada will not sit idly by and watch President Putin and his accomplices attempt to redraw Ukraine’s borders with impunity,” said the head of Canadian diplomacy, who again expressed her wish that “the ‘Ukraine wins’.

The sanctions against these 203 people are in addition to others announced in the past two months. The measures announced Wednesday include an asset freeze, a transaction ban and a ban on entering Canada.