CANADA JOINS U.S., EU SANCTIONS AGAINST

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000556 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EU MD RS CA PREL PBTS CVIS OSCE SUBJECT: CANADA JOINS U.S., EU SANCTIONS AGAINST TRANSNISTRIA REF: SECSTATE 52179 ¶1. (SBU) On 27 February Political Counselor discussed the proposed visa sanctions against Transnistrian officials with John McNiesh, Eastern European Desk Officer for the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT). ¶2. (SBU) McNeish said that representatives of the U.S. and Canadian OSCE Missions in Vienna had already discussed the imposition of visa sanctions. Canada was fully on board and had entered Igor Smirnov's name into their visa lookout system. He noted that there were unconfirmed rumors that Smirnov was also in possession of a Canadian passport. This was being looked into and his name was entered into their border look-out data base, so he would be stopped in either case. If we were aware of other aliases, spellings, or permutations of his name, Canada would take action on this information as well. CELLUCCI