MOSCOW, March 25. /ITAR-TASS/. Chairman of the Committee for International Affairs in Federation Council upper house of parliament Mikhail Margelov is not surprised he was put on Canada’s sanction list, the lawmaker faced problems to enter the country back in 2009.
“Naturally, I was put exactly on Canada’s sanction list. I have been in this list for 5 years already,” he told reporters on Tuesday, recalling that he was denied a visa without any explanations back in 2009, when the politician was invited to an interparliamentary forum of Americas in the Canadian capital of Ottawa.”Then Canadian authorities realized that this is a forum not of Canada, but two Americas and gave to me “a temporary permit to enter the country,” Margelov added, noting this is a permit to “undesirable” people who are permitted to stay in Canada “for sound reasons”. “Despite a diplomatic passport I could be questioned on the border, my luggage could be checked and I could be even put under external surveillance,” the Russian lawmaker noted.
The head of the upper house committee noted that he had found this incident insignificant then. “Then everything turned out to be OK finally, I shrugged my shoulders, participated in the forum and forgot about it,” Margelov stated.
“Recognition of my political activity by Canadian authorities certainly pleased me. And my name on the sanction list also points to a quite close vigilance of Canadian foreign policy, as the country’s authorities have figured me out back in 2009,” the politician added.