Countries around the world are responding to Russia’s incursion on Ukraine by imposing a series of sanctions, many of which are focused on freezing the assets of some of the most powerful Russian entities.
CTV News analyzed the financial data of the 32 legal entities that face sanctions from Canada after Russia invaded Ukraine. To compare banks, the value of their total assets has been considered to determine the financial strength of a bank. For non-banks, revenue or market capitalization has been considered.
On Feb. 22, 2022, Canada imposed its first round of sanctions, followed by another series which include 382 individuals and wealthy oligarchs and 32 Russian entities under Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations.
A total of 31 of the 32 entities have no physical presence in Canada. The Russian company with some presence in Canada, Alrosa, is the world’s largest diamond mining company and public joint-stock company operating through five mines—four of which are located in the Northwest Territories: Diavik, Ekati, Gahcho Kue, Snap Lake Mine; and one in Northern Ontario: Victor.
More than half (63 per cent) of entities facing sanctions include the largest banks in Russia. The others on the list are behemoths in the sectors of aerospace, defence, mining, and telecommunications, with a strong presence in global markets. Examples on the list include the largest supplier of natural gas to Europe and Turkey, Gazprom, and the world’s largest diamond mining company, Alrosa, which accounts for 28 per cent of the world’s diamond mining capacity.
The U.S., U.K., Germany, Japan, and Australia have also announced similar sanctions that include asset freezes of Russian entities.
Which type of sanctions does Canada impose on Russia?
Canada uses two types of sanctions against Russia which include immobilization of its assets, and restrictions on trade to and from Russia. The aim is to ban any foreign transactions through the Russian banking system and constrain its ability to import and export goods. On Saturday, U.S. officials said additional steps were framed to send the ruble into “free fall”.
This would mean cutting key Russian banks out of the SWIFT financial messaging system. SWIFT supports daily financial transactions of countless billions of dollars across more than 11,000 banks and other global financial institutions.
Impact of sanctions
Sanctions could create inflationary conditions in the Russian economy and limit the flow of money for the country. In 2014, in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the series of international sanctions and declining oil prices at the time had led to the collapse of the Russian ruble and eventually, the Russian financial crisis.
After the U.S., EU, U.K, and Canada blocked some Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment system on Saturday, the ruble fell about 30 per cent against the dollar on Monday — making it worth less than one U.S. cent.
However, after the Western sanctions, the central bank of Russia said in its press release that the Russian banks were highly resilient since each bank’s balance sheet was predominantly (80 per cent) in rubles. It was further stated that foreign currency loans had been granted mainly to solvent Russian companies.
