Canada prohibits its banks from transacting with the Bank of Russia | Economy

Canada on Monday banned its financial institutions from making “transactions” with the Bank of Russia to prevent it from using its international currency reserves and limit Moscow’s ability to finance the invasion of Ukraine.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Twitter that the ban is effective “immediately” and that Canada has made the decision “in coordination” with the rest of the G7 countries.

“We will continue to work closely together to hold Russia accountable for its unwarranted invasion of Ukraine,” Trudeau said.

In addition, Canada imposed an asset freeze and a ban on dealings with Russian sovereign wealth funds.

Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement that “Canada and its allies continue to take concerted action to ensure that the Russian invasion of Ukraine will be a strategic failure.”

Freeland added that the measures adopted in recent days by the United States, Canada, the European Union and their allies are unprecedented and describe as “historic” the decision to ban transactions with the Bank of Russia since it is the first time that the central bank of a G20 country has been sanctioned in this way.

The sanctions against the Bank of Russia come on top of the decision by Western countries to exclude certain Russian banks from the SWIFT system of bank payments. Canada was one of the first countries to publicly express its support for this measure.

Also today, the telecommunications company Rogers, one of the largest in Canada, stopped broadcasting the state channel RT, considered one of Moscow’s propaganda tools.

On Sunday, another of Canada’s major telecommunications companies, Bell, has already made the decision to exclude RT from its television schedule.

In addition, the LCBO, the province of Ontario’s liquor monopoly, the largest in Canada, has decided to remove Russian-made products, mainly vodka, from its stores.

And on Sunday, Canada’s Transport Minister Omar Alghabra announced the closure of Canadian airspace to Russian airlines in response to the invasion of Ukraine after several European countries followed suit.

Alvin Nguyen

"Amateur introvert. Pop culture trailblazer. Incurable bacon aficionado."

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *