Russia accuses Canada of ‘ignoring numerous crimes’ by Ukraine amid rising tensions
Global News
The Russian embassy in Canada pushed back on Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly's tweet memorializing the thousands of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the country's eastern front.
Russia’s embassy in Canada issued a rare statement Tuesday criticizing Foreign Minister Melanie Joly’s comments in support of Ukraine amid the country’s rising tensions with Moscow, accusing Canada of “ignoring numerous crimes” by Kyiv.
Joly wrapped her two-day trip to Ukraine, the first leg of a three-country continental tour that will include stops in France and meetings with European Union and NATO leaders in Brussels. She met with Ukraine’s prime minister and deputy prime minister on Monday to discuss Canada’s support amid a military buildup on the Russian border.
On Tuesday, Joly tweeted a photo of her visiting the Wall of Remembrance in Kyiv, which pays tribute to the nearly 4,500 Ukrainian soldiers who have died fighting Russia-backed separatist forces in the country’s east since 2014. Joly’s tweet was more direct, calling the conflict “the war against Russia.”
The statement from the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Canada said Joly’s tweet “causes nothing but our utmost perplexity,” and attempted to portray the conflict as one waged by Ukraine against its own people.
“The Russian Side anticipates Canada and other Western partners of Ukraine to stop ignoring numerous crimes by the Kyiv regime waging war against its own people, resulting in the deaths of thousands of civilians,” the embassy said.
Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 after the ouster of Ukraine’s Moscow-friendly leader and also threw its weight behind a separatist insurgency that took over large sections in eastern Ukraine. More than 14,000 people have been killed in nearly eight years of fighting there.
Moscow has denied backing the separatists, with Tuesday’s statement marking the latest attempt to distance itself from what the Kremlin calls a civil war.