The Russian Federation has added fifty-six Canadians to its sanctions list, permanently banning them from entering the territory of the aggressor country. This list includes, among others, several bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
This was reported by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its official website on March 22.
Bishop Bryan Bayda, the ruling Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada, was named on the sanctions list. The list also includes Metropolitan Lawrence Huculak, Archbishop and Metropolitan of Winnipeg, and Bishop David Motiuk, Eparch of Edmonton.
The Russian Federation has imposed these sanctions against Canadian citizens whom it alleges are “actively involved in academic cooperation and supportive structures associated with Stepan Bandera, [and] the campaign to praise Hitler’s henchmen from the OUN-UPA and the Galicia Division.” The Russian Foreign Ministry further noted that the sanctions targeted “businessmen and company executives involved in the supply of arms to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as well as active participants in the Russophobic campaign promoted by the [Canadian] authorities.”
