(Ottawa) Now that four new territories have officially “embraced” Russia, the worst thing Kyiv could do is try to win them back and “worse” an already “bad” situation. And the refusal of Canada to recognize this redrawing of borders, the citizens of these territories do not care – “without wanting to be impolite”.
Posted at 3:57 p.m.
Moscow’s ambassador to Ottawa, Oleg Stepanov, got up early Friday morning to listen to President Vladimir Putin’s speech. “I was impressed by the way he explained our political approach. These territories are now part of Russia, according to the UN charter on the self-determination of peoples,” he says.
Because the inhabitants of the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and the territories occupied by the Russian troops of Kherson and Zaporijjia have mainly expressed their desire to be attached to the motherland, rejoices the head of mission of the Kremlin in Canada. He denies that the consultations took place in a climate of repression and force.
“I completely disagree with reports that try to portray referendums as forced referendums,” he said in an interview with The Press in an embassy lounge. If pressure was exerted by soldiers, it was to ensure “that as many people as possible exercise their right to vote”, he pleads.
That Canada and its allies had sworn “never” to recognize the legitimacy of the results was “predictable”, and Oleg Stepanov was “not surprised”. But “for the people of these regions, for the Russians, it doesn’t change anything,” he says. “I don’t want to be rude, but it doesn’t matter at all,” the diplomat said.
Ceasefire demanded
Ukraine must now lay down its arms, says the ambassador.
He accuses Kyiv of being behind the strike that killed at least 30 civilians in a Ukrainian-controlled area near Zaporizhia on Friday: “These people were fleeing to Russia, and for this reason the Ukrainians struck. I do not see what would be the logic for Russia to pull them from people who come to seek refuge in Russia”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky must now give up on the idea of reconquering the annexed territories, advises the ambassador, who uses his fingers to make quotation marks while pronouncing the verb reconquer. “It forces Russia to choose between the bad and the worst,” he breathes.
“Right now the situation is bad. The worst would be to let the Kyiv regime persecute these people and commit genocide, he continues. We don’t like what’s going on right now. We’re really not having fun right now. But it takes what it takes. »
Russians fleeing, cowards
Between sips of espresso, Oleg Stepanov, a former army man like his father before him, calls cowards the Russians who flee the country by the tens of thousands to avoid having to end up on the front lines, Vladimir Putin having announced a partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists.
“When I look at the people queuing at the border with Georgia or Kazakhstan, I tell myself that we are separating the wheat from the chaff,” he says. Always using the term “special operation” to describe the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ambassador denies that the exodus constitutes a disavowal of the Russian president or his war strategy.
“It’s a marginal fringe. And I can’t help but wonder what their mothers, fathers, friends, girlfriends or boyfriends will think of this, ”sighs Oleg Stepanov.
A contested presence in Canada
On the sidewalk and on the concrete wall supporting the imposing gate of the Embassy, rue Charlotte, spots of red paint. Friday, under a radiant autumn sun, a young woman hangs a Russian flag on the railing and places two bouquets of red carnations on the low wall. She does not want to grant an interview, because “it is delicate”.
The Russian presence in Canada is, indeed, delicate.
The Conservative Party, the Ukrainian community and the Ukrainian ambassador have all urged the Trudeau government to deport Oleg Stepanov.
“Very diplomatic, isn’t it? “, reacts the main interested party with a smile.
“It’s the prerogative of the government to decide whether they want us here or not. If they tell us to leave, we’ll leave, we’ll pack our bags, that’s no problem. But it’s still better not to cut down the tree that bears fruit,” he adds.
For reasons of reciprocity, the Liberals refuse to deport the man from the Kremlin to Canada.
No lies
In the offices of the embassy last January, Oleg Stepanov swore that Moscow had no intention of invading Ukraine.
“There is no intention, no desire, no reason to do so,” he hammered.
But he, who does not hesitate to criticize the Canadian media, accusing them of conveying false information via the Embassy’s Twitter account, denies having lied at the time when asked, at the end of the long interview, how can anyone believe what he just said.
“There was a but: we did not intend to launch a military offensive, except in the event of provocation”, argues the diplomat.
And since Volodymyr Zelensky was going “to launch a blitz to conquer Donetsk” – Ukrainian territory whose independence Vladimir Putin declared three days before invading Ukraine – and that he was “trying to obtain their own nuclear weapon”, Moscow carried out “preemptive strikes”, he claims.
” I did not lie. I was honest and sincere,” insists the Russian ambassador.