Canadian citizens struggle to get funds moved from Russia due to ongoing sanctions

Back in 1998, software engineers Fedor and Irina Taiakine left their home country of Russia and moved to Canada for a better life.

“What I liked about Canada is that it seemed to be governed by laws that make sense,” said Fedor.

But one thing not making sense for them lately is how the sanctions Canada imposed on Russia due to the war in Ukraine are impacting the couple.

Since 2022, they’ve been trying to move money they had in a Russian bank account back home to Canada.

“Two transfers from Russia, US$700 each. They are on hold for three years now. It’s not a big amount, but it just seems unfair,” he shared.

The couple kept the money in Russia to help care for their elderly parents, who have since passed.

“Now we don’t need it there anymore,” Fedor said. “What sense does it make to keep that money there, which benefits [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, instead of us using it to spend or invest here in Canada?”

The couple is far from being alone.

Olga Alova, another Canadian citizen who lives in Toronto, said she has been trying to transfer $16,000 from her Russian bank account for the past several years.

Like the Taiakines, her attempts were blocked by her bank citing the sanctions imposed by the Ministry of Global Affairs meant to punish Russia in response to the Ukrainian conflict.

“The transfers were frozen without any explanation to me,” she told CityNews. “This illegal action, like freezing personal funds of citizens who have nothing to do with the actions of the Russian government and, moreover, who left Russia due to disagreement with government policy.”

The people who reached out to Speakers Corner about the issue say they agree with sanctions against their former homeland but say they’re not the people Canada should be targeting.

“Canada says, ‘Oh, we are so pissed off about Putin.’ Yeah, I am pissed off about Putin. But what they’re doing in our case is interfering with people doing their normal life here in Canada, nothing related to oligarchs or illegal activities,” Fedor said. “Go after the bad guys by all means, but we’re not them.”

The Ministry of Global Affairs does allow Canadian citizens, like the Taiakines and Alova to file for a permit to be relieved of any financial roadblocks established by the sanctions. But each person we spoke with filed those permits years ago without any response.

“I have been trying to get information about my funds for four years now. I have written countless requests to Global Affairs, made a request through the Canada.ca website, and also through a local MP and no result,” said Alova.

Speakers Corner reached out to the Ministry of Global Affairs to inquire about the delayed response, but a spokesperson responded by saying they do not comment on personal cases, citing privacy concerns.

“Permits are granted on an exceptional basis and case-by-case basis, and are subject to revocation at any point in time,” the spokesperson said. “Under the Special Economic Measures Permit Authorization Order, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has the discretion to issue permits to persons in Canada and Canadians outside Canada on an exceptional basis in respect of activities that are prohibited the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations.”

The issue of frozen funds has also landed in the courts.

In December of 2024, Daria Zubashchenko, a B.C. resident who is a Russian citizen with a Canadian work permit, sued her bank, the Ministry of Global Affairs and the Attorney General after she tried but was blocked from wiring about US$90,000 to her account at the Bank of Nova Scotia from her account at Russia’s Sberbank, which was sanctioned by Canada.

The people Speakers Corner spoke to for this story say they’re not yet ready to head to court. They just want answers.

“We have not been told anything in three years,” Fedor said. “I can see that my problem is nothing in comparison with the suffering people in Ukraine. But the sanctions have to be more targeted, more down to the point and prevent bad guys from doing bad stuff, not us.”

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With files from The Canadian Press