(OTTAWA) Melanie Jolie assured the G20 foreign ministers meeting in Indonesia that Canada “will not succumb to Russian propaganda.”
Posted at 2:28 pm
Canada’s diplomatic chief is heading to Bali, where she will meet with her counterparts from the G20, the economic grouping.
Among his vis-à-vis will be Russia’s Sergey Lavrov.
“It’s not true that I’m going to be in the same room as Sergey Lavrov at the G20,” Minister Jolie began last March.
Despite her existence, she still chose to travel.
Because his presence “is also an opportunity to directly confront the disinformation of the representatives of the Russian regime, which is now expected in such multilateral forums”, wrote the press release announcing his presence at the summit.
“Canada must stand up to expose Russia’s lies and, with like-minded partners, propose solutions to combat Russia’s food weaponization. […] Minister Joly said in the same press release.
Last April, G20 finance ministers and central bank governors were meeting in Washington when Russian Finance Minister Anton Silovanov actually wanted to intervene.
Among those participating in the boycott were Finance Minister and Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem, United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde.
Towards the top leaders
The meeting is a prelude to the G20 leaders’ summit to be held next November.
In late March, US President Joe Biden called for the expulsion of Russia from the G20.
For his part, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau didn’t go as far, but he did express his discomfort.
“This is not business as usual. With Russia around the table, this is going to be a big problem for many countries, including Canada. I don’t think we can sit around the table with Russia,” he said.
In the same breath, he couldn’t help stressing the irony that Vladimir Putin’s regime, wreaking havoc on the global economy, has its place in a group whose goal is to find ways to spur economic growth.
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