Canada extends sanctions against Russia

OTTAWA, June 30 (UPI) -- Canada revealed it would expand economic sanctions against Russia over Russian involvement in Ukraine and Crimea, and retaliatory sanctions announced last week.

The newest sanctions, imposed Monday, are expansions of current sanctions to include Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Surgutneftegaz and Transneft, each a major state-owned Russian gas and oil company. They come after Russia extended its one-year ban on the importation of several categories of food from Western suppliers, including those from Canada.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been a determined critic of Russian foreign policy as it relates to the annexation of Crimea and the presence of Russian troops and military equipment in Ukraine. The most recent sanctions, which Harper said were issued in coordination with international partners, includes a ban on imports and exports from Crimea.

A Russian legislator, Alexei Pushkov, called for additional retaliatory actions against Canada after Harper's announcement of further sanctions.

"We need to develop a new package of measures in regard to Canada. Canada is one of the most anti-Russian countries," Pushkov told the Russian lower house of Parliament Monday.

Also on the Canadian list of bans is entry to Canada by the Night Wolves, a vigorously nationalistic Russian motorcycle club which is funded in part by the Russian government. Strongly supportive of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the group has been implicated in involvement in the Ukraine conflict.

The United States already has a ban on the Night Wolves, a U.S. statement in 2014 claiming members were "deployed to the cities of Luhansk and Kharkiv," in Ukraine, to help "recruit separatist fighters."