(Ottawa) Canada continues to study the possibility of sending weapons to Ukraine, and it has developed “contingency plans” in case Russia sounds the charge, which “we fear”, said Justin Trudeau.
Posted at 12:58 p.m.
Updated at 3:13 p.m.
The decision whether or not to send military equipment – an explicit request from Kyiv that Canada’s allies, including the United States and the United Kingdom, have agreed to – should not be taken lightly, argued the Canadian Prime Minister at a press conference in Ottawa.
He hinted that this could provoke Vladimir Putin. “One of the things we have seen is that Russia is looking for pretexts, reasons, to continue and even intensify its aggression against Ukraine,” he said when asked. asked why Canada’s decision was delayed.
“The decisions we make will be in the interest of the Ukrainian people, and what is in the interest of maintaining international peace,” added Justin Trudeau, recalling that Canada’s contribution in Ukraine is real, especially with the training operation of the Security Forces of Ukraine, Unifier.
And if Moscow invades, what will happen to these approximately 200 Canadian soldiers deployed on Ukrainian soil, or even members of the Armed Forces stationed in Latvia for NATO? The first mission, which is due to end next March, has not yet been renewed. The second is scheduled until March 2023.
The Prime Minister did not want to open his game on this either.
“We will make the decisions depending on the situation, depending on the actions that could be taken by Russia or others. We have contingency plans for all sorts of different options, but I’m not going to go into detail on operational plans,” he said.
Because the Canadian government is closely monitoring developments.
And “yes, we fear an armed conflict in Ukraine”, dropped Justin Trudeau, saying he was “extremely concerned about the positioning of the Russian government, by what they are saying, and the sending of soldiers to the border with Ukraine.
This is why the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, was dispatched to Kiev, where she met, among others, the Ukrainian Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal, and Olga Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration and Euro-Atlantic.
Canada’s chief diplomat continues her trip to Paris, where she met her French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian on Wednesday. She then heads for Brussels, where she will notably have an interview with the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg.
Conservative pressure
In the Conservative camp, the Liberal government is being urged to do more to support Kyiv.
Chief Erin O’Toole called last Thursday “to extend and expand Operation UNIFIER, restore RadarSat imagery, apply Magnitsky sanctions to those responsible for Russian aggression in Ukraine, and give the Ukraine lethal defensive weapons”.
Liberals must start, however, with “rejection of Russian and President Putin’s surrender proposals” because “history demonstrates that surrender to President Putin’s aggression in Eastern Europe only intensifies the military action by Russia,” he said in a statement.