Canada’s FM Believes Russia is a Contemptible State - Perhaps She Has an Ethnic Grudge Instead?
They accused Russia of unacceptable behavior and threatened to impose new sanctions. These were the main points in the communique, issued after the meeting of the G7 countries' foreign ministers. They met in Canada which currently holds the position of chairman. As a good host, Chrystia Freeland, Canada's Foreign Minister even had everyone over for breakfast at her house to discuss the pressure on Russia in an informal setting. However, it seems like Mrs. Freeland might be personally interested in Moscow's issues.
Varvara Nevskaya has dug into the Canadian Minister's genealogy.
It's late at night in Moscow and evening in Toronto. While most of Russia sleeps, the G7 foreign ministers at the summit in Canada talk about imposing harsher sanctions on Russia As expected, the event's host, Chrystia Freeland has made some harsh statements. She's Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs and a descendant of Ukrainian immigrants who allegedly escaped the Soviet regime.
Chrystia Freeland, Canada's Foreign Minister: "We've discussed Russia a lot. They keep interfering in other countries' internal affairs. We all believe this behavior is unacceptable, especially considering the attack in Salisbury, UK. Russia also continues to support Assad's regime. Russia has illegally occupied Crimea, which constitutionally belongs to Ukraine. They have also interfered in the internal affairs of other countries".
This Canadian has been the Foreign minister for two years. She's expressed her contempt for Russia because of the situations in Crimea and Donbass from the very beginning of her service. It's pretty clear why Ukraine's sovereignty concerns the Minister. Freeland tells a sob story in her interviews. Her grandparents were political fugitives, and had to flee from Western Ukraine, which was a part of the Soviet Union at the time, right before WWII started, thus, preserving the concept of national independence. The entire Ministry of Foreign Affairs gladly ate up her Russophobic speeches.
Chrystia got her warm support from John Sullivan, the Acting US Secretary of State: "I'm thinking about Russia's abhorrent behavior. The poisoning in Salisbury, the support of the chemical attack conducted by Assad's regime. The US has discussed it within G7, and we think that we must respond to their actions".
Mrs. Freeland isn't exactly being precise when telling the story of her family's roots. To be blunt, she tells lies, as many Western media sources have written. Of course, holding a senior position and telling the truth about your grandfather being a Nazi ally who successfully spent WWII in occupied Poland is impossible. Freeland chose her status and political power over the truth. However, it's odd that revealing these facts didn't cause an international reaction. All of Freeland's statements still matter.
Sergey Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Minister: "As for the Toronto Foreign Ministers' meeting the Russophobic connotation was obvious. Even the G7 countries who assure us that they're not trying to isolate Russia went down the slippery slope of Russophobia. We'll wait patiently, fighting for our positions. We'll wait for our partners to realize how dead-end and futile this line of behavior is".
After several articles about Chrystia Freeland's grandfather's real biography were published in the Russian media, Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister defended Chrystia. He accused Russia of deliberate slander against Freeland to promote anti-West propaganda. The primary source that stated that Chrystia's grandfather, Mykhailo Khomiak was a Nazi propagandist for Krakivski Visti (Krakow News) during WWII was his own nephew (Chrystia's uncle), Jean-Paul Himka, a Canadian historian and a professor at the University of Albania.
Here's a quote from his thesis: "The primary sources for this study, aside from the articles themselves, are the editorial correspondence and records of Krakivski Visti, which were acquired by the Provincial Archives of Alberta in 1985, a year after the death of the newspaper's chief editor, Mykhailo Khomiak. It's worth noting that this collection seems to constitute the most extensive set of editorial documentation of any of the legal newspapers published in Nazi-occupied Poland. The papers in the Provincial Archives of Alberta make it possible to identify the authors of the anti-Jewish articles, none of whom signed their real names".
Judging from this article that was written by Freeland's uncle in 1996, Khomiak was the chief editor of Krakivski Visti. The newspaper's policy was regular kindling of hatred towards Jews, praising the Third Reich, and praising Hitler. Krakivski Visti's editions can be found in Holocaust museums all over the world.
Vladimir Simindey, a political expert: "This was a typical anti-Jewish newspaper. There were many of them on the occupied territory. He didn't just work there, he was the chief editor. It says so on the newspaper's last pages in both Ukrainian and in German. He really did have a mentor from the occupational administration, particularly, the Head of Press of the occupied territory, Deputy Governor Emil Hassert. He was also a German intelligence officer".
Khomiak never hid his real name, unlike the newspaper's writers, which means he worked there voluntarily and was probably even proud of it. Here it is, proudly printed on the newspaper's last page. By the way, all the typographic equipment, along with the building were taken from a Jewish publishing house, The New Journal. Its chief editor was eventually killed in the Bełżec extermination camp. The article that has caught Freeland in a lie is available to everyone in English. It can be easily found via any search engine. However, it's a conundrum for the G7 Ministers for some reason.
It seems that these countries' foreign ministries can only blame Russia for anything, especially since it's so efficient, and it lies right on their chosen Russophobic course.
Varvara Nevskaya, Vesti.