The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday that Olympic gold medalists Tessa Virtue and Hayley Wickenheiser are among 333 Canadians prohibited from entering Russia.
Most of the athletes are retired Canadian Olympians who signed a statement last month requesting the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) to bar Russia and Belarus from the 2024 Paris Summer Games unless Russia withdraws from Ukraine.
Since Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine last year, many international sports federations have barred athletes from the two nations.
Russia cannot hold major sporting events, thus Canadian athletes have no motive to visit.
“In view of the anti-Russian sanctions periodically imposed by the Trudeau regime against officials, politicians, experts, journalists, cultural figures and athletes from Russia, as well as anyone who does not suit the Ottawa’mainstream’ and the neo-Nazi authorities supported by it in Kiev, entry into the Russian Federation closes permanently to 333 Canadian citizens,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said on its website.
Governor General Mary Simon and members of the Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia provincial legislatures are also banned from Russia.
