Canada wants to use seized Russian assets to pay Ukraine victims

Canada plans to give itself the power to seize the assets of sanctioned Russian individuals and companies and use them to compensate victims of the war in Ukraine.

Canada plans to give itself the power to seize the assets of sanctioned Russian individuals and companies and use them to compensate victims of the war in Ukraine.

The new measures will be included in the government’s budget legislation, meaning they are almost certain to pass in parliament by summer.

Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said the law will be the first of its kind in the Group of Seven. Canada has now sanctioned more than 1,100 Russian individuals and companies since President Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

“Sanctions are one of the tools available to our government to put pressure on the Russian regime as we strive to hold accountable those whose actions enabled this illegal and unjustifiable invasion,” Joly said in a statement.

“Today, we are seeking the capacity to not only seize but to allow for the forfeiture of the assets of sanctioned individuals and entities and to allow us to compensate victims with the proceeds.”