Billionaire who wants off Canada’s Russia sanctions list denounces Putin

globalnews.ca:

A billionaire trying to get off Canada’s Russia sanctions list denounced Vladimir Putin and the Ukraine war in a private statement to the government but it didn’t work, Global News has learned.

Igor Makarov, an oil and gas magnate whose assets were frozen by Ottawa in 2022 in response to the invasion of Ukraine, condemned the Russian president to Canada’s foreign affairs department.

The three-page statement, signed in Cyprus, where Makarov holds citizenship, called Putin’s attack on Ukraine “outrageous,” “illegal,” and “designed to undermine the entire world order.”

“I want it to be made clear that I strongly oppose the Russian regime and its invasion of Ukraine,” wrote Makarov, who Canada alleges has benefited from Russia’s “oligarchy system.”

Worth an estimated $2-billion, Makarov noted that he was writing “on a confidential basis.” The statement was part of an attempt to convince Canada to drop the sanctions he said had caused him “substantial financial harm.”

But a copy of his remarks was obtained by Global News from the Federal Court, where his lawyers filed it. They asked a judge to seal the key parts of it, arguing that challenging Putin could put Makarov in danger.

The court ruled last month against sealing the letter.

Denunciations of Putin are rare from those labelled oligarchs, whose considerable wealth is said to have flowed from their allegiance to the Kremlin.

The Canadian government, however, was skeptical of Makarov and rejected his application for de-listing, arguing he had not sufficiently distanced himself from Putin.

“While you claim to be opposed to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, you have not issued any public statements denouncing the war in Ukraine or President Putin’s regime,” Foreign