Russia slams PM’s weapons proposal
Russian parliamentarians are objecting to Canada’s stated plans to eventually sell weapons to Ukraine.
After a Friday meeting with visiting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada is beginning the lengthy process to certify Ukraine to buy Canadian weapons.
In statements reported by Russia’s state-owned Sputnik news agency, lawmaker Andrei Krasov called Trudeau’s comments “shortsighted statements” and said Russia should “do everything possible to prevent it from happening.”
Krasov, a member of Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, is a leading member of the Russian State Duma’s defence committee.
“Canada’s leadership should not be concerned about lethal weapons deliveries to Ukraine,” added Krasov, according to Sputnik. He said Canada should instead worry about compelling Poroshenko to implement the Minsk agreements.
Those agreements, signed beginning in 2014, provide a roadmap for Russian and pro-Russian forces occupying parts of eastern Ukraine to lay down their arms in exchange for Ukrainian constitutional changes.
Instead, Ukraine and Russia remain at loggerheads, and low-level conflict continues in the country’s occupied Donbass region. As recently as Saturday, a Ukrainian soldier was reported killed as a result of pro-Russian action. Since 2014, the conflict has killed an estimated 10,000 people.
Canada has persistently sided with Ukraine against Russian territorial incursions: first, Russia’s seizure and annexation of Crimea, and then Russia’s direct military support for Donbass separatists. Both actions were undertaken in the relative disorder following sustained street protests and violent clashes that led to the ouster of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych in 2014.
Small numbers of Canadian troops remain in Ukraine, where they have been involved in training the country’s soldiers. On Friday, Poroshenko played up the domestic benefits of the operation, noting that it teaches the Canadian Armed Forces how to fight Russia.
“This is a win, win, win, co-operation because our Canadian partners also learn from us the unique experience from the Russian hybrid warfare,” he said.
Canada has also sent hundreds of millions in aid to Ukraine since 2014. Of that, $16 million has gone to nonlethal equipment such as helmets, bulletproof vests and winter clothing.
However, Canada remains unable to meet Ukrainian requests for lethal weapons. Ukraine is not on Canada’s Automatic Firearms Country Control List, a group of 39 countries authorized to received imported Canadian weapons.