Canada imposes sanctions against National Bank, biggest banks in Belarus

The Canadian authorities have decided to impose sanctions restrictions on 9 organizations in the financial sector of Belarus, Report informs referring to the Belarusian media.

The sanctions affected the National Bank of Belarus, as well as the country’s biggest banks of various forms of ownership: Belarusbank, Belagroprombank, BPS-Sberbank, Priorbank, BelVEB Bank, Belgazprombank, VTB-Bank and Statusbank.

The Canadian authorities explained this decision by saying that the actions of Belarus allegedly seriously affect security. This violation, in their opinion, has led or may lead to a serious international crisis.

The head of the Canadian government, Justin Trudeau, also said that the restrictions were introduced to exert further pressure on Belarus, since it is an ally of Russia.

Canada previously imposed sanctions against 14 Russian individuals and 34 legal entities, in particular, security facilities associated with the Wagner group.