Moscow has responded to new Canadian sanctions and banned dozens of its officials from entering Russia. “The list is long and contains dozens of names ‒ the Russophobic Canadian citizens that have been systematically destroying bilateral relations,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Ottawa introduced restrictions against 30 Russian citizens along with 22 other foreign nationals on Friday, claiming they are involved in “significant corruption” or “gross violations of human rights.” The measure was slammed by the Russian diplomatic mission in Canada as “a false pretext of a hypocritical protection of human rights” which is “absolutely senseless and reprehensible.”