Since they first separated from Ukraine in 2014, a nexus of crime, corruption and rebellion has flourished in the Russian-backed Donetsk and Luhansk ‘People’s Republics’ (DNR and LNR) as well as Russian occupied Crimea, a new report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) found.

In a busy week, the Canadian government levied sanctions against 203 individuals loyal to President Vladimir Putin and his war, proposed a new legislation to allocate frozen Russian assets to victims in Ukraine, and unanimously declared that the war itself amounts to genocide against the Ukrainian people.

The U.K. announced on Wednesday sweeping sanctions against 178 individuals from the seperatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, family members, close associates, and employees of Russian oligarchs and struck out major Russian Industries from metals to technologies.