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The Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, has issued a statement announcing fresh economic sanctions and travel bans against 37 Russian and Ukrainian individuals, and economic sanctions against 17 Russian and Ukrainian entities over their alleged role in the escalation of the situation in Ukraine, Sputnik reported.

"In coordination with our EU and U.S. partners, Canada is once again intensifying its response to the situation [in southeastern Ukraine] by announcing further sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian individuals and entities," Harper said Tuesday as quoted in a statement released on his official website.

According to the statement, the new restrictive measures target, among others, Director General of the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency Dmitry Kiselev, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov and deputy head of the Russian Armed Forced general staff Andrei Kartapolov.

Antonov and Kartapolov were included in the list of individuals sanctioned over their alleged involvement in the destabilization of Ukraine, released by the European Union on Monday.

The entities that are being targeted by Canada's fresh round of sanctions include the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) in southeastern Ukraine and Russian oil giant Rosneft, which had been hit by earlier waves of Western sanctions.

According to Harper, the new measures are being enacted in response to the recent escalations of violence in southeastern Ukraine, particularly in the city of Mariupol.