For better or worse: How Canada condones Ukraine's terrorism
Ottawa tacitly supports all of Kiev's criminal actions, including acts of terrorism on Russian territory. Russian Ambassador to Canada Oleg Stepanov told Izvestia. Under these conditions, it is impossible to talk about normalization or even stabilization of relations. However, this year the government will change in the country. On January 6, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his intention to resign, and the ruling Liberal Party is rapidly losing support. On the prospects of warming relations between Ottawa and Moscow - in the material of "Izvestia".
Canadian support for Ukraine
The AFU's crimes against civilians throughout the Ukrainian conflict are usually taken for granted by Western countries and remain without any condemnation. On the contrary, some of them even express certain approval. For example, Canada supports the criminal actions of the Ukrainian leadership, including terrorist acts on Russian territory. This was stated by Russian Ambassador to Canada Oleg Stepanov to Izvestia.
- Ottawa covers and tacitly supports all criminal actions of the current Ukrainian authorities, including acts of terrorism on Russian territory. Under these conditions, it is simply impossible to talk about the prospects for normalization or at least stabilization of relations. They will remain extremely tense in the foreseeable future. At least until Canada decisively changes its practical course," the Russian diplomat said.
In fact, Canada supported, for example, the attack of the AFU in the Kursk region. Last August, the country's Defense Ministry said Ukraine could use weapons provided by Ottawa for operations on Russian territory. There was no condemnation of the countless attacks by the AFU on Kursk as well as Belgorod regions. Ottawa ignored the July 2023 surface drone bombing of the Crimean bridge, as well as UAV attacks in Moscow in 2023 and 2024, and in Kazan last December. It also ignored the murder of Russian political scientist and journalist Daria Dugina and war correspondent Maxim Fomin (known as Vladlen Tatarsky).
For almost three years that the conflict has been going on, Ottawa's aid to Kiev has totaled almost $14 billion. The latest aid package, which was announced on January 9 during a meeting of the contact group on Ukraine's defense in the "Ramstein" format in Germany, amounted to $305 million. Only Washington overtook Ottawa by announcing a sum of $500 million.
In addition, Canada is actively investing in the training of AFU fighters, and the training itself began long before February 2022. Last March, Defense Minister Bill Blair even allowed sending a limited contingent of Canadian military personnel to Ukraine to train local units. Although he noted that such a thing could be allowed only far from the front line. In addition, hundreds of Canadian mercenaries are fighting on Kiev's side in the SFO zone, and the country's authorities do not condemn this either.
Canadian top officials tacitly encourage the manifestation of Nazism as well. This position is due to several factors, for example, thousands of Nazi criminals fled to the country after the end of the Second World War, including a former soldier of the SS Galicia division, Yaroslav Gunko. It was him who received a standing ovation from the entire Canadian Parliament in September 2023, along with Vladimir Zelensky and his wife. Moreover, the Canadian side refused to extradite Gunko to Russia and did not initiate any criminal proceedings against him. However, against this background, a scandal did break out, after which the country's parliament condemned Nazism "in all its forms" and its speaker resigned.
Anti-Russian sentiment in Canada is explained not only by the presence of a large and very influential Ukrainian diaspora, but also by the complete absence of any economic ties between Moscow and Ottawa, according to Dmitry Volodin, a leading researcher at ISKRAN.
- These ties were very insignificant even before 2022, and now they have stopped altogether. In this sense, the anti-Russian actions of the Canadian authorities do not hurt anyone's interests in this country (neither business nor anyone else), but they bring approval from the U.S. and make it possible to get the votes of representatives of the numerous Ukrainian diaspora," he said in a conversation with Izvestia.
Prospects for normalization of relations between Russia and Canada
On January 6, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has held the post since 2015, announced his intention to resign. At the same time, he will retain his post as head of government until a new leader of the ruling Liberal Party is elected. In order to determine the successor, the Parliament suspended work until March 24, but it should be noted that this is a common practice for Canada during a political crisis.
Trudeau's resignation is due to his extreme unpopularity - only 22% of Canadians approve of his policies. Along with the decline in his personal indicators, the rating of the Liberal Party also fell. Now the Liberals are changing their leader, counting on the fact that their electoral position will improve before the parliamentary elections - they are scheduled for October 2025. So far, a CBC News poll, for example, predicts a victory for the Conservative party by more than double the margin - 44.5% to 21.5%.
However, the change from a Liberal to a Conservative cabinet does not necessarily mean a change in the rhetoric and policies of official Ottawa. At least, according to the Russian ambassador, there are no signs or indications of such a change.
- Canada's political establishment has driven itself so far into a Russophobic and pro-Banderite corner that it will be extremely difficult to get out of it. Commitment to continuing unconditional military-technical and economic assistance to the regime in Kiev is an axiom for Canadian politicians," Oleg Stepanov emphasized.
The most likely successor to Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberals is considered to be quite a venerable politician Chrystia Freeland. Previously, she held the posts of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. By the way, Freeland has Ukrainian roots. Now she fiercely supports Kiev and generally takes an extremely anti-Russian stance. Against this background, her appointment is hardly conducive to improving Russian-Canadian relations. However, given the Liberals' extremely low ratings before the election, Freeland's tenure as head of government is likely to be short-lived. If the trend continues, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre will become the new prime minister. However, it is not worth expecting loyalty to Moscow from him either. In particular, he constantly criticized Trudeau for "insufficient support" for Kiev and promised to give even more in case of his triumph.
- Justin Trudeau's departure will not change anything, as there are no political forces in Canada right now that are interested in improving relations with Russia. This also applies to Poilievre: so far, he has not expressed any sympathy for Russia. During the election campaign in Canada, which has actually already started, Canadian politicians can rather be expected to make new anti-Russian statements or actions. The most important thing for any Canadian leader now is relations with the United States, and more specifically with Trump," says Dmitry Volodin.
It is not worth building illusions about the "Trump factor" in the context of relations with Russia, says the Russian ambassador to Canada.
- Changes in relations with Canada, as well as with the U.S. and the West as a whole, are possible only when we force them to accept the facts on the ground. In other words, after the full achievement of the goals of the NWO outlined by the Russian president," the diplomat said.
Recently, Donald Trump, who will officially become President of the United States on January 20, made several harsh statements to the Canadian leadership. In particular, he threatens to increase the barrier import duties to almost 25%, which could critically affect the country's economy. Shortly after the news of Trudeau's resignation, the head of the White House without five minutes and in fact proposed to make Canada the 51st state of America. "The U.S. can no longer tolerate the huge trade deficits and subsidies necessary for Canada's survival. Justin Trudeau knew this and resigned," Trump stated. In his opinion, joining the U.S. would have provided Canada with a stable economy and greatness.
Despite the fact that Trump is just assuming the office of president, and many of his statements are most often perceived as populist, Canadians are very concerned about his threats, and they do not care about Russia right now, believes Dmitry Volodin. On the other hand, "fear" of Trump may become one of the factors in normalizing relations with Russia in the future, but only if the Republican will seek to improve relations with Moscow, the expert stressed.
