The Canadian government announced on Friday sanctions against Patriarch Cyril and 29 other people and 15 institutions deemed responsible for having supported Russia in its “unjustified” invasion of Ukraine.

Alongside the head of the Russian Orthodox Church are spokespersons for the Ministry of Interior, Irina Volk, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, and Tigrán Khudaverdyán, one of the former heads of the search engine Yandex, known as Russian Google.

The list, which considers those involved to be “agents of disinformation”, includes oligarch Alexander Lebedev, a billionaire and former agent of the ex-KGB intelligence agency, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said during the summit of G20 ministers in Bali.

Among the 15 companies concerned since Friday are the RT and Sputnik channels; the Russian communications regulator, Roskomnadzor; the communication group Gazprom Media; the TASS news agency; and state television VGTRK.

“The Russian propaganda machine must answer for its lies. Canada is committed to fighting disinformation wherever it is found. Today we say to those who seek deception that they will be held accountable,” he said. Joly said in a statement released by his cabinet.

The Canadian executive recalled that since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, his country has issued sanctions against more than 1,150 companies and individuals from or in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, many of whom have been taken in coordination with allied countries. .

These sanctions include those announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the G7 leaders’ summit in Elmau, Germany, at the end of June and are aimed at countering the “Kremlin’s disinformation campaign”.

In addition, Canada has banned the arrival of certain gold imports from Russia and created a website to demonstrate with facts “how the Russian regime is using lies to justify its illegal, unjustified and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine”.