ISTANBUL

Canada decided Saturday to impose sanctions on 24 individuals and 17 entities, including former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, according to the Russian news agency, TASS.

Ukraine accuses, in addition to the former president, blogger Yury Podolyaka and officials from the unrecognized Donetsk and Kherson regions, Daniil Bezsonov and Alexander Kuzmenko, of "contributing to the theft and destruction of cultural objects and Ukrainian culture," it said.

Institutions based in the Crimea, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions, which remain under Russian occupation and are Ukrainian territory under international law, are also sanctioned.