US embassy cable - 03OTTAWA556

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000556 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EU, MD, RS, CA, PREL, PBTS, CVIS, OSCE 
SUBJECT: CANADA JOINS U.S., EU SANCTIONS AGAINST 
TRANSNISTRIA 
 
REF: SECSTATE 52179 
 
1. (SBU) On 27 February Political Counselor discussed the 
proposed visa sanctions against Transnistrian officials with 
John McNiesh, Eastern European Desk Officer for the Canadian 
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT). 
 
2. (SBU) McNeish said that representatives of the U.S. and 
Canadian OSCE Missions in Vienna had already discussed the 
imposition of visa sanctions.  Canada was fully on board and 
had entered Igor Smirnov's name into their visa lookout 
system.  He noted that there were unconfirmed rumors that 
Smirnov was also in possession of a Canadian passport.  This 
was being looked into and his name was entered into their 
border look-out data base, so he would be stopped in either 
case.  If we were aware of other aliases, spellings, or 
permutations of his name, Canada would take action on this 
information as well. 
CELLUCCI