Canada’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General David Lametti speaks in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on January 27, 2020. (Photo by Reuters)

Russia and Canada are embroiled in a standoff, with Moscow now holding up the no-entry sign to nine prominent Canadian citizens in a tit-for-tat for a similar measure imposed by the Canadian government.

Moscow on Monday blacklisted nine Canadians over their involvement in shaping and conducting an anti-Russian policy.

The list includes Justice Minister David Lametti, Commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada Anne Kelly, Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Brenda Lucki, Director of Policy for the Prime Minister Marci Surkes, and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc.

Deputy Minister of the Department of National Defense Jody Thomas, Vice Chief of the Defense Staff Michael Rouleau, Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Brian Brennan and Commander of the Canadian Forces Intelligence Command Rear Admiral Scott Bishop are the other individuals banned from Russia.

In late March, Ottawa imposed new sanctions on nine Russian officials over what it described as gross and systematic violations of human rights following the controversy that arose over the situation of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny and his supporters.

Canada’s Foreign Ministry has reacted to Moscow’s latest moving, calling it unacceptable and unfounded.

We remain deeply concerned by the deteriorating human rights situation in Russia and the shrinking space for civil society and independent voices. We stand by these Canadians that have been targeted, it said in a statement.

Navalny was detained on arrival in Moscow on January 17 from Germany where he had been receiving treatment for alleged poisoning shortly after he collapsed during a domestic Russian flight in August last year.

Western governments have accused Russia of poisoning Navalny and imposed sanctions against senior Russian officials over the matter, which Moscow argues is a solely internal issue.

Moscow has denied involvement in any attack on Navalny.

Navalny is serving a prison sentence after the Moscow City Court sentenced him on February 2 to two years and eight months in a prison colony for breaking the terms of his suspended sentence.

Navalny received a suspended three-and-a-half-year prison term over a theft case on December 30, 2014.