Ottawa sanctions Canadian company whose armoured vehicles are used by Russian military

Open this photo in gallery:An armoured vehicle in the Sudan armed forces, manufactured by Streit Group.Geoffrey York/The Globe and MailOttawa has announced that it is imposing sanctions on Streit Group, a major Canadian-owned manufacturer of armoured vehicles that have been deployed by the Russian military and a Sudanese militia.Similar sanctions against Streit Group were announced last October by the European Union, leading to questions about why Canada had failed to follow with its own actions. Ukrainian-Canadian leaders have complained that Ottawa is not fully enforcing its own regulations prohibiting Canadians from selling weapons to Moscow.Streit Group, now based in the United Arab Emirates, was founded in Ontario in 1992 by Guerman Goutorov, a Canadian businessman who reportedly also holds Russian citizenship. He was sanctioned separately by the EU in April.“With a history of supporting Russia’s military-industrial complex by supplying Russian entities with defence products, Streit Group continues to feed Russia’s war machine and the Putin regime’s unprovoked and unjustifiable war against Ukraine,” Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said in her announcement Monday.The sanctions, she said, “will reduce Russia’s military capabilities in its war against Ukraine by disrupting and hindering Streit Group’s capacity to supply military technology and equipment to Russia.”Ms. Anand cited “multiple credible reports” of Streit Group armoured vehicles being deployed by the Russian National Guard, which is involved in the invasion of Ukraine.Canada to buy nearly $2-billion in armoured vehicles from new ‘strategic partner,’ U.S. defence contractorUnder federal regulations, Canadians are barred from financial transactions or other dealings with sanctioned companies, and the Canadian assets of those companies are frozen.Danylo Korbabicz, the chief executive officer of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, a lobby group, said he welcomed the sanctions on Streit Group. But he noted that Canada has taken no action against Mr. Goutorov, the owner. “This points to the necessity for the government to dedicate more resources to investigating and enforcing export and sanctions law,” he told The Globe and Mail.Streit Group did not immediately reply to Globe queries sent via e-mail to its sales and compliance offices. It launched an appeal against the EU sanctions in January, alleging the EU erred in its assessment and violated the company’s rights.The Canadian sanctions announcement cited only the Russian connection and made no mention of longstanding reports that Streit Group vehicles have been supplied to Libya, Sudan and South Sudan in defiance of international bans on arms sales to those countries.Armoured vehicles from Canadian-owned company deployed in Sudan’s war zonesThe Globe has extensively documented those vehicle exports, as well as the deployment of Streit Group armoured vehicles in military offensives by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group that has massacred thousands of civilians in the Darfur region of Sudan.Kelsey Gallagher, senior researcher at Project Ploughshares, a Canadian-based arms control advocacy group, said the new Canadian sanctions are a welcome move and a clear demonstration of such measures serving their purpose. But he questioned why Ottawa had not imposed them much earlier in response to the widespread evidence of Streit Group vehicles in Darfur.“It’s now become routine for Streit vehicles to appear in the arsenals of bad actors, from Russian forces in Ukraine to the RSF in Sudan,” Mr. Gallagher said.“On multiple occasions, Streit vehicles have been pictured being used by members of the RSF, who face allegations of committing genocide. The provision of these vehicles in that context should have triggered immediate sanctions.”Last November, Ms. Anand told journalists she was looking into reports that Canadian-owned companies, including Streit Group, were selling military equipment that had ended up in the RSF’s hands. “Believe me, I am looking into this very seriously,” she said in response to questions from The Globe.She said she wanted to ensure that Canadian companies are complying with the requirements of their export permits and federal laws, including the Canadian arms embargo on Sudan and a separate law that incorporates the terms of the international Arms Trade Treaty, which Canada signed in 2019.The issues of export permits and arms treaty requirements were not mentioned in Ms. Anand’s announcement Monday.