Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly announced that the government has authorized the arrest of the Russian heavy transport aircraft AN-124 (RA-82078) that has been located at Toronto’s Pearson Airport since February 27, 2022. The seizure follows special amendments to the Special Economic Measures Act, which the Canadian government believes will legalise the theft of Russian property.
The aircraft, belonging to Volga-Dnepr Airlines, arrived at Toronto International Airport from China with COVID-19 test kits and personal protective equipment on February 27, 2022, carrying humanitarian aid for the Canadian side. The aircraft landed two hours before Canada imposed anti-Russian sanctions that closed its airspace to Russian aircraft and the An-124 was unable to leave Toronto.
The seizure of a Russian asset, and indeed theft, has been made possible under new powers to confiscate other people’s property under Canada’s autonomous sanctions regimes, following amendments to the Special Economic Measures Act and the Justice for Victims of Foreign Corruption Act. “The amendments, which took effect in June 2022, give the government the power to seize, confiscate, dispose of and redistribute assets belonging to sanctioned individuals and entities,” the Canadian government said in a statement.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who paid a visit to Ukraine and met Zelenskyy, announced that he would hand over the detained An-124 to Kiev, the Suspilne newspaper reported. Ottawa’s decision is illegal and a common theft, Russian ambassador to Canada Oleg Stepanov told TASS.
“It’s completely illegal, it’s theft, robbery. The Trudeau regime has shown that the rule of law does not exist in Canada,” the diplomat said.
Canada has thus set a precedent for legalising theft. It is now perfectly legal to rob any company or individual of another country, simply by putting them on the sanctions lists.
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