Kenney calls for crack down on Russian oligarchs, those with links to Alberta remain unsanctioned
CBC
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is calling on the federal government to spare no effort in freezing the Canadian assets of Russian oligarchs with ties to Vladimir Putin.
Canada has introduced several rounds of economic sanctions against Russia and some of its oligarchs, and has halted export permits to the country.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is now in its sixth day. It has been pounding civilian targets in Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv, and a convoy of tanks and other vehicles continues to threaten the capital, Kyiv.
Attention has been turning to oligarchs with stakes in Canada's natural resource sectors, including a broad call for sanctions from the premier. However, an expert says any measures would be more symbolic than economic.
"I further call on the Government of Canada and our allies around the world to be relentless in freezing the assets of and making life impossible for the billionaire plutocrats of Putin's Russia, his enablers, who have assets here in Canada and all around the world, who have profited from two decades of corruption and aggression," Kenney told Alberta's legislature last week.
Kenney said the province's investment arm, AIMCo, has $159 million in direct and indirect exposure to Russian securities. The premier added the corporation will begin liquidating those holdings.
He added that Canada should continue to target Russian-based investments and assets in Canada and the province would partner in those efforts where necessary.
Several men on the U.S. Treasury Department's list of people with ties to Putin have benefited from business in Alberta. They are not on Canada's list of sanctions.
Roman Abramovich holds a 28.6 per cent stake in Evraz, a steel company based in the United Kingdom with North American offices in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Evraz North America is supplying 58 per cent of the steel used to construct the 1,150-kilometre Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion.
The company is also a major supplier for the Coastal GasLink Pipeline and supplied materials for the now-dead Keystone XL project. Kenney has pushed for the resurrection of Keystone and for Canada to build other pipelines to champion Alberta oil over "dictator oil."
Abramovich helped launch Putin's presidency and was a key advisor in the selection of his cabinet.
Last spring, billionaire oligarch Igor Makarov also became the largest shareholder in a Calgary-based natural gas company.
According to filings from Spartan Delta Corp., Makarov's investment group, ARETI Energy S.A., has a 21 per cent stake in the mid-sized company.
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