Russia Places Justin Trudeau On ‘Black List’

The Russian foreign ministry announced that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, alongside hundreds of MPs, to a “black list” that forbids him from entering Russia, CBC News reported.

“This step is forced and taken in response to the outrageous hostility of the current Canadian regime, which has tested our patience for so long,” Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement Tuesday, CBC News reported.

“Every Russophobic attack, be it attacks on Russian diplomatic missions, airspace closures, or Ottawa’s actual severing of bilateral economic ties to the detriment of Canadian interests, will inevitably receive a decisive and not necessarily symmetrical rebuff,” it said.

The banned officials include the leaders of the other federal party leaders and those in charge of various Ukrainian-Canadian groups, CBC News reported. Like the U.S., Canada has placed sanctions against Russian President Vladimir, as well as his political allies and Russian oligarchs, in response to his invasion of Ukraine.

“The only response from Russia that we’re interested in is an immediate end to the illegal, unnecessary war in Ukraine,” a spokesperson for Trudeau told CBC News. “Until then, Canada and our allies will continue imposing crippling sanctions on Putin and his enablers in Russia and Belarus.”

“I think what we need to do is continue — every day, every week — to announce sanctions. We know we have to do more and we know that our sanctions must really target Putin himself, which we have done,” Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said, CBC News reported.

President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, along with numerous U.S. officials, were also barred from entering Russia on Tuesday. On top of sanctions, the Biden administration has banned U.S. imports of Russian oil.