Canadian government orders seizure of Russian cargo plane at Toronto airport | 24CA News
The Canadian authorities has ordered the seizure a Russian plane that has been grounded at Toronto Pearson International Airport for the reason that invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The federal authorities introduced the deliberate seizure of the Antonov 124 on Saturday as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a shock go to to Kyiv. Officials mentioned the aircraft shall be taken as a direct response to Russia’s ongoing conflict with Ukraine.
“Today, we are demonstrating that Russia’s actions continue to have consequences,” transport minister Omar Alghabra mentioned in a press release. “We stand with Ukraine and will take any and all necessary actions, including this seizure, to put pressure on President Putin.”
The large Russian cargo aircraft has sat on the tarmac at Toronto’s major airport since Canada banned Russian plane from getting into its airspace in February 2022.
In an April Facebook submit, Ukraine’s Prime Minister mentioned he understood Canada was “preparing for (the) confiscation of the AN-124” and that it, together with different property, it might be transferred to Ukraine.
The aircraft is owned by a subsidiary of Volga-Dnepr Airlines LLC and Volga-Dnepr Group, Canada believes. Both entities lately had sanctions imposed in opposition to them as a part of Canada’s response to the conflict in Ukraine.
The sanctions had been levelled by the Canadian authorities on April 11 as a part of a raft of measures rolled out in opposition to 34 entities that the federal authorities mentioned are “complicit in Putin’s war of choice, including several security targets linked to the Wagner Group” and elements of the aviation sector.
“By authorizing the seizure of the Antonov 124, Canada reaffirms that impunity is not an option for those who have profited from Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine,” the federal authorities mentioned in a press release.
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