Two Hamilton MPs black-listed and barred from entering Russia
Published March 15, 2022 at 2:22 pm
Two Hamilton MPs are among the more than 300 Canadian officials and politicians to have been black-listed by Russia.
According to a statement put out by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday (March 15), Hamilton Mountain MP Lisa Hepfner and Hamilton East MP Chad Collins are both persona non-grata in Russia these days.
“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,” the statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
“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.”
The black list was released the same day that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered an impassioned plea for more support and the closure of his country’s airspace during a virtual address to Canadian members of Parliament and senators in the House of Commons on Tuesday.
The Russian military invasion of Ukraine has entered its third week with no end in sight. More than 2,500,000 have fled their homes and the death toll is estimated to be anywhere from hundreds to thousands of people and climbing.
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“You have imposed severe sanctions, serious sanctions. At the same time, we see that unfortunately, it did not bring an end to the war,” Zelneskyy said to parliamentarians on Tuesday.
“You all need to do more to stop Russia, to protect Ukraine, and by doing that, to protect Europe from (the) Russian threat.”
Hepfner and Collins are joined by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly and National Defense Minister Anita Anand on the blacklist. Hundreds of other MPs and officials are also banned from Russia.
— with a file from The Canadian Press
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