"In coordination with the European Union and the United States, Canada is today announcing new sanctions in response to Russia’s aggressive actions in the Black Sea and Kerch Strait and Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea," the statement says.

OTTAWA, March 15. /TASS/. Canada has introduced new anti-Russian sanctions in relation to the November 2018 Kerch Strait incident, placing 114 individuals and 15 entities on the sanctions list, the statement by Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland published on Friday informs.

Head of Rosneft Igor Sechin, head of VTB Andrey Kostin, entrepreneur Igor Rotenberg, Plenipotentiary Presidential Representative in the Southern Federal District Vladimir Ustinov and head of Russia’s National Guard (Rosgvardiya) Viktor Zolotov have been placed on the list, along with several entities of the Russian military-industrial complex, such as Tupolev, MiG and Sukhoi.

Canada first introduced sanctions against Russian individuals and entities in 2014, after Crimea began to form part of Russia.

Kerch Strait incident

On November 25, 2018, three Ukrainian warships, en route from Odessa to Mariupol, illegally crossed Russia’s state border, entered Russia’s territorial waters in the Kerch Strait and started performing dangerous maneuvers.

Despite the repeated warnings and demands to stop, the Ukrainian vessels continued their way, forcing Russia to use weapons. All three Ukrainian ships were detained in the Black Sea. Three Ukrainian servicemen were slightly wounded and received medical assistance. A criminal case has been launched over the violation of Russia’s state border. Moscow slammed the incident as a provocation.

Twenty-four Ukrainian sailors have been detained and are currently at detention facilities in Moscow.