(Ottawa) As Moscow prepares the ground for the annexation of the four territories where referendums have apparently endorsed the Russian regime, Canada and its allies must really double down to help Ukraine, pleads the Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.
Posted at 4:08 p.m.
The one who is also Minister of Finance made this plea at the end of the weekly Liberal caucus meeting on Wednesday, without however specifying what is concretely hidden behind this statement prepared in English and French.
The referendums with Soviet results, “which we should not even call referendums”, but rather “simulacra”, show that Russian President Vladimir Putin “understands that he is in the process of losing the war”, this war ” illegal” and “barbaric”.
So we must increase the pressure on the Kremlin, insisted Minister Freeland.
What to do now is to redouble [double down] our support for Ukraine. The sooner Ukraine wins, the sooner the torture and killings will end, and the sooner the global economy can recover from the recession caused by the pandemic.
Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister of Canada
According to electoral officials based in Russia, 93% of the votes cast in the Zaporizhia region were in favor of annexation, as were 87% in the Kherson region, 98% in the Luhansk region and 99% in Donetsk.
While Minister Freeland did not offer details on the next steps Canada intends to take to help Ukraine, a government source indicated that a new round of sanctions targeting Russia was on the way. be announced, possibly this week.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a phone conversation Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Among other things, he “reiterated Canada’s strong and continued support for Ukraine, including continued military support,” according to an account provided by his office.
The CBC network reported a little less than a week ago that Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov had asked his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand to send him new military equipment, including light armored vehicles .
Earlier this week, the Department of National Defense announced the addition of a third CC-130J Hercules aircraft to cargo delivery operations from a center in Prestwick, Scotland.
Leveraging the use of this operations center will allow the Royal Canadian Air Force “to get even more military aid to Ukraine,” Defense Minister Anita Anand said. by press release.
With Agence France-Presse