Canada's Sanctions Against Russia Negatively Affecting Savings Of Residents - Reports

Nationals of Russia and other post-Soviet states who now reside in Canada have experienced significant hardship as a result of Canada's sanctions against the Russian banking system because of the inability to transfer their financial assets, CBC News reported on Monday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th February, 2023) Nationals of Russia and other post-Soviet states who now reside in Canada have experienced significant hardship as a result of Canada's sanctions against the Russian banking system because of the inability to transfer their financial assets, CBC News reported on Monday.

The report provided the example of four individuals from Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan who have significant financial assets in Russian banks and their subsidiaries abroad but could not retrieve their money nor complete a transfer to Canada.

The Belarusian national explained that she and her husband moved to Canada for work, leaving behind between $60,000 and $100,000 in Russia's Alfa-Bank, the report said.

Shortly before Russia began its special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, the woman initiated a transfer of her funds to a Canadian bank, but the money was blocked as sanctions were imposed on Alfa-Bank, the report said.

The Russian national said he experienced the same fate even though he contacted Alfa-Bank to withdraw his money on the very day the special military operation began, but the bank was not able to transfer the funds, the report said.

Similarly, the two Kazakh nationals said they were customers of Sberbank-Kazakhstan, the only financial institution in the country able to transfer funds worldwide, but could not transfer their money to Canada due to the sanctions, the report said.

All four affected individuals have filed requests with Global Affairs Canada to obtain sanctions exemptions to unfreeze their funds, the report also said.

However, their attempts have so far proven unsuccessful, with the ministry issuing automated emails to inform of "significant backlogs" or saying it would "consider" the requests, the report added.

Global Affairs Canada has reportedly assured all individuals affected by the sanctions that it does not seek to confiscate their assets, according to the report.