Alberta
Russian billionaire couple claims Canadian sanctions are unjustified and unreasonable

Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko and his wife Aleksandra want to be taken off Canada’s sanctions list, claiming in Federal Court they’ve been wrongfully labelled as “elites and close associates” of the Russian regime.
The Melnichenkos filed two applications in the Federal Court of Canada in late March, seeking to quash a decision to place them under sanctions related to the war in Ukraine.
Court documents obtained by The Canadian Press reveal that the pair have been fighting their inclusion on Canada’s list of “designated persons” under its Russian sanctions regime since October 2022.
Back in February, the Trudeau government announced amendments to the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations, which included placing the Melnichenkos on a list of 122 sanctioned individuals tied to the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The couple claim the Canadian government has failed to provide them with any evidence to justify their inclusion on the list.
The list includes Russian elites and policymakers thought to be “engaged in activities that directly or indirectly facilitate, support, provide funding for or contribute to a violation or attempted violation of the sovereignty or territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
“Mr. Melnichenko does not have, and has not had, any association with the Government of Russia or President Putin,” Andrey Melnichenko’s application states. “He left Russia 20 years ago and has resided in Switzerland for the past 13 years. There is no reasonable basis for the Minister to believe otherwise.”
His wife, a former model and Serbian pop singer, claims she’s been wrongly targeted by Canadian sanctions, since she has no ties to Russia and doesn’t have any involvement in companies founded by her husband.
The couple’s Canadian lawyers, Scott Hutchison and Eleni Loutas with Henein Hutchison Robitaille LLP in Toronto, declined to comment on their cases.
Andrey Melnichenko’s public relations director, Alexander Byrikhin, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Global Affairs Canada said in an emailed statement that it “cannot release information on individuals or entities listed under the Special Economic Measures (Russia) or comment on individual cases.”
“In response to Russia’s illegal and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine, Canada has imposed hard-hitting sanctions against the Russian regime and those who enable it,” the statement said.
Aleksandra Melnichenko claims in her application that she’s a European citizen with “no connections to Russia whatsoever.”
She denies any involvement in two companies founded by her husband, fertilizer firm EuroChem, and SUEK, a coal company, both of which are owned by a trust administered in the European Union.
“She is merely a beneficiary of the discretionary trust managed by the independent trustee,” her application claims. “The latter is the legal owner of the named companies.”
In June 2022, EuroChem issued a “statement on ownership and control” following reports that Andrey Melnichenko had ceded ownership in the firm to his wife just before being sanctioned by the EU.
“EuroChem Group AG is not sanctioned, has never been sanctioned, and is free to continue with its important mission of supplying high-quality crop nutrients to world markets,” the statement said. “EuroChem is majority-owned and controlled by EU trustees of a trust, whose beneficiary, Aleksandra Melnichenko, has no majority ownership of, nor influence over, EuroChem. Therefore, EuroChem is not controlled by any sanctioned person.”
Aleksandra Melnichenko claims her “erroneous” inclusion on sanctions lists in the EU, Switzerland and Canada caused “difficulties for the companies’ operations worldwide, increasing the ongoing food and energy crisis.”
Andrey Melnichenko claims he’s been falsely portrayed as an “oligarch” in control of the companies, causing production disruptions at facilities in Europe after he was sanctioned by the EU.
His court application warns of similar “unintended consequences” in Canada, where the Russian sanctions list now includes more than 1,300 individuals.
It states that he’s not an oligarch but a “self-made businessman,” quoting a Forbes report referring to his fortune being made independently and free of ties to the Russian government under both Putin and Boris Yeltsin.
Melnichenko sits at number 58 on Forbes’ billionaires list with a net worth of more than $25 billion, which he amassed beginning in the early 1990s with a chain of currency exchange booths, before founding MDM Bank, and later EuroChem and SUEK.
“As has occurred in Europe, sanctioning Mr. Melnichenko could disrupt EuroChem and SUEK’s operations and detrimentally impact the global fertilizer supply which, in turn, has the potential to exacerbate the ongoing food shortage,” he claims in Federal Court.
Julia Webster, a Toronto-based international trade lawyer and partner at Baker McKenzie, said Canada’s approach to Russia contrasts with other countries currently under sanctions.
Unlike sanctions on Haiti, Myanmar, Iran and Sri Lanka, Canada’s sanctions on Russia represent a “true decoupling of economies,” she said, given the economic entanglements between western nations and Russia before its invasion of Ukraine.
She said Canada’s sanctions list mirrors that of allied nations.
“The sanctions are being implemented in co-ordination with Canada’s allies,” Webster said. “There is overlap on many of the prohibitions that are in place amongst the sanctions regimes between different countries and the people who are designated on those sanctions regimes, but there are also differences and Canada at this time seems to have actually one of the strictest regimes comparatively to its allies.”
In March 2022, the EU sanctioned Andrey Melnichenko, noting his attendance at a meeting held by Putin with Russian business leaders and oligarchs on the day of the invasion of Ukraine.
“The fact that he was invited to attend this meeting shows that he is a member of the closest circle of Vladimir Putin and that he is supporting or implementing actions or policies which undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, as well as stability and security in Ukraine,” the EU said.
Shortly after Andrey Melnichenko was sanctioned in the EU, Italian authorities seized the couple’s $600-million “Sailing Yacht A,” but their other vessel, Motor Yacht A, valued at $300 million, avoided a similar fate by docking in the United Arab Emirates at the time.
In August 2022, the United Stated designated Melnichenko as a “Putin enabler,” pointing to his past involvement in Russia’s financial services sector.
“Listing carries serious social, economic and personal consequences,” the couple claims.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2023.
Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press
Alberta
Big win for Alberta and Canada: Statement from Premier Smith

Premier Danielle Smith issued the following statement on the April 2, 2025 U.S. tariff announcement:
“Today was an important win for Canada and Alberta, as it appears the United States has decided to uphold the majority of the free trade agreement (CUSMA) between our two nations. It also appears this will continue to be the case until after the Canadian federal election has concluded and the newly elected Canadian government is able to renegotiate CUSMA with the U.S. administration.
“This is precisely what I have been advocating for from the U.S. administration for months.
“It means that the majority of goods sold into the United States from Canada will have no tariffs applied to them, including zero per cent tariffs on energy, minerals, agricultural products, uranium, seafood, potash and host of other Canadian goods.
“There is still work to be done, of course. Unfortunately, tariffs previously announced by the United States on Canadian automobiles, steel and aluminum have not been removed. The efforts of premiers and the federal government should therefore shift towards removing or significantly reducing these remaining tariffs as we go forward and ensuring affected workers across Canada are generously supported until the situation is resolved.
“I again call on all involved in our national advocacy efforts to focus on diplomacy and persuasion while avoiding unnecessary escalation. Clearly, this strategy has been the most effective to this point.
“As it appears the worst of this tariff dispute is behind us (though there is still work to be done), it is my sincere hope that we, as Canadians, can abandon the disastrous policies that have made Canada vulnerable to and overly dependent on the United States, fast-track national resource corridors, get out of the way of provincial resource development and turn our country into an independent economic juggernaut and energy superpower.”
Alberta
Energy sector will fuel Alberta economy and Canada’s exports for many years to come

From the Fraser Institute
By any measure, Alberta is an energy powerhouse—within Canada, but also on a global scale. In 2023, it produced 85 per cent of Canada’s oil and three-fifths of the country’s natural gas. Most of Canada’s oil reserves are in Alberta, along with a majority of natural gas reserves. Alberta is the beating heart of the Canadian energy economy. And energy, in turn, accounts for one-quarter of Canada’s international exports.
Consider some key facts about the province’s energy landscape, as noted in the Alberta Energy Regulator’s (AER) 2023 annual report. Oil and natural gas production continued to rise (on a volume basis) in 2023, on the heels of steady increases over the preceding half decade. However, the dollar value of Alberta’s oil and gas production fell in 2023, as the surging prices recorded in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine retreated. Capital spending in the province’s energy sector reached $30 billion in 2023, making it the leading driver of private-sector investment. And completion of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project has opened new offshore export avenues for Canada’s oil industry and should boost Alberta’s energy production and exports going forward.
In a world striving to address climate change, Alberta’s hydrocarbon-heavy energy sector faces challenges. At some point, the world may start to consume less oil and, later, less natural gas (in absolute terms). But such “peak” consumption hasn’t arrived yet, nor does it appear imminent. While the demand for certain refined petroleum products is trending down in some advanced economies, particularly in Europe, we should take a broader global perspective when assessing energy demand and supply trends.
Looking at the worldwide picture, Goldman Sachs’ 2024 global energy forecast predicts that “oil usage will increase through 2034” thanks to strong demand in emerging markets and growing production of petrochemicals that depend on oil as the principal feedstock. Global demand for natural gas (including LNG) will also continue to increase, particularly since natural gas is the least carbon-intensive fossil fuel and more of it is being traded in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Against this backdrop, there are reasons to be optimistic about the prospects for Alberta’s energy sector, particularly if the federal government dials back some of the economically destructive energy and climate policies adopted by the last government. According to the AER’s “base case” forecast, overall energy output will expand over the next 10 years. Oilsands output is projected to grow modestly; natural gas production will also rise, in part due to greater demand for Alberta’s upstream gas from LNG operators in British Columbia.
The AER’s forecast also points to a positive trajectory for capital spending across the province’s energy sector. The agency sees annual investment rising from almost $30 billion to $40 billion by 2033. Most of this takes place in the oil and gas industry, but “emerging” energy resources and projects aimed at climate mitigation are expected to represent a bigger slice of energy-related capital spending going forward.
Like many other oil and gas producing jurisdictions, Alberta must navigate the bumpy journey to a lower-carbon future. But the world is set to remain dependent on fossil fuels for decades to come. This suggests the energy sector will continue to underpin not only the Alberta economy but also Canada’s export portfolio for the foreseeable future.
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