February 22, 2022
TORONTO- The Central and Eastern European Council in Canada (CEEC) calls on the Canadian government to immediately impose consequences for Vladimir Putin’s illegal action against Ukraine, and his efforts to destabilize the alliance of Western democracies.
Canada must freeze the assets of Russian oligarchs and their companies operating in Canada in response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukrainian territory. Oligarchs who have been identified by journalists as enabling and holding Vladimir Putin’s personal wealth, are known to have assets in Canada. This information is openly and publicly available. The CEEC calls on Canada to work with allies to prohibit dealings in Russian sovereign debt, ban Russia from the SWIFT international payments system, and ensure that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is canceled.
Additionally, we demand that the Canadian government terminate the broadcasting licenses of Russian state owned and controlled media in Canada, including RT English and French, RTR Planeta and RTVi to prevent them from broadcasting hate and disinformation targeting Canadian ethnic communities and Canadian democracy on Canadian airwaves as part of the Kremlin’s cognitive warfare against Canadians. Sanctions should be immediately imposed on RT, it’s editor Margarita Simonovna Simonyan and Rossiya Segodnya to prevent those entities from profiting from the broadcast of disinformation and processing payments to Canadian proxies who contribute to their information and influence operations.
The CEEC represents the interests of 4.5 million Canadians of Central and Eastern European heritage.
For more information: ceecouncilcanada@gmail.com