Ukraine Army Mocks Russia Over Comedian Jim Carrey, Margaret Atwood Sanctions

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine on Tuesday mocked the Russian government after it imposed bans against 100 more Canadian nationals, including Hollywood actor Jim Carrey and acclaimed writer Margaret Atwood.

In a Twitter post, the defense ministry quipped that Carrey may have been banned for playing Truman Burbank, a man who discovers his life is actually a reality TV show, in the movie "The Truman Show."

The defense ministry also suggested that Atwood was banned for authoring the controversial dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale." The novel includes storylines where children are kidnapped and "re-educated"— an act that Russia has been accused of doing to Ukrainian children in occupied territories.

In a statement released by Russia on Monday, the foreign ministry said they imposed the bans on people they claim are involved in shaping an "aggressive anti-Russian policy."

"In response to the ongoing practice by the regime of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of imposing sanctions on the Russian leadership, politicians, lawmakers, business people, experts, journalists, cultural figures and everybody else whom the Canadian Russophobic government deems undesirable, entry is banned on the basis of reciprocity to 100 citizens of Canada," the statement said, as translated by Russian-state news agency TASS.

Last week, Russia also banned 200 U.S. nationals from entering Russia, including three individuals related to President Joe Biden, namely Valerie Biden Ownes, James Brian Biden and Francis Willian Biden. The Russian Foreign Ministry has now sanctioned a total of 1,073 U.S. citizens, per RFE/RL.

Russia's new bans on Canadian individuals come nearly a month after Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joy announced that they were imposing further sanctions on 34 Russian individuals and one entity for serving as "propaganda agents" and spreading disinformation about the war in Ukraine.

"These individuals and entity help assist the Russian regime in undermining the principles of state sovereignty and are responsible for spreading false narratives that serve as pretexts for the Russian regime's unjustifiable war," the Canadian foreign affairs ministry wrote in a news release.

Among those sanctioned by the Canadian government include TV Zvezda, a channel run by Russia's Defense Ministry, a prominent Russian journalist Tina Kandelaki and actor Sergei Bezrukov.