Mélanie Joly will not shake hands with Sergei Lavrov at the G20 Summit | War in Ukraine
< p class="sc-v64krj-0 knjbxw">Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly at the NATO summit last June.
Canadian Foreign Minister , Mélanie Joly, will not shake hands with her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, at the G20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia, scheduled for this week.
She told The Canadian Press that she planned instead to pick up on the Russian foreign minister's lies about the invasion of Ukraine.
I will confront him on the facts and expose the Russian narrative for what it is: lies and disinformation, she said in a written response to questions.
In March, Ms. Joly joined many other delegates in withdrawing from a United Nations meeting in Geneva when Mr. Lavrov, against whom Canada had imposed sanctions a few days earlier , began his speech.
But Canada's presence alongside Russia in Indonesia creates a difficult diplomatic situation at the G20.
Minister Lavrov is one of the most vocal supporters of the invasion of Ukraine and of President Vladimir Putin's arguments.
Ms. Joly recently said it was unacceptable for a Canadian diplomat to attend a reception hosted by the Russian Embassy in Ottawa.
She however added that if she and other foreign ministers opposed to the Russian invasion of Ukraine did not attend the G20 Summit, it could work in favor of the Kremlin, allowing it to assert their version of the war.
If Canada is not at the table, Russia wins, she pointed out. We cannot give in to Russian lies, she said.
“Russia has perpetrated large-scale atrocities in Ukraine, and it threatens to cause a world famine. But Russia denies these facts and spreads disinformation to escape international accountability.
— Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada
In a statement, Global Affairs Canada said Ms. Joly's presence will provide an opportunity to directly counter misinformation from Russian regime officials.
Canada will not cede word to Russian propaganda seeking to justify the illegal invasion of a sovereign neighbor, it reads.
Since the invasion of the ;Ukraine, Ms Joly and other ministers have refused to be present when Russia speaks at summits.
In April, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland also walked out of a G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Washington to protest Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
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Chrystia Freeland has repeatedly called for Russia to be expelled from the G20.
In May, International Trade Minister Mary Ng joined her counterparts from the United States, Australia, Japan and New Zealand in leaving an Economic Cooperation for the United States meeting. x27;Asia Pacific in Bangkok when the Russian representative started speaking.
Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would attend the G20 leaders meeting in November, although President Vladimir Putin also attended, saying it was important to counter the voice Russia will have at this table.
Minister Lavrov conducted a series of interviews, including with the BBC, in an attempt to justify Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its tactics.
President Putin reportedly apologized to the Israeli prime minister after Mr. Lavrov said on Italian television that Adolf Hitler was part-Jewish. The foreign minister made the remarks in an effort to justify the Russian invasion as an attempt to denazify Ukraine, even though the Ukrainian president is Jewish.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
Summit in Indonesia to address food shortages following the invasion Ukraine, which has prevented the export of millions of tons of wheat to developing countries.
Ms Joly will also discuss advancing equality global women and environmental protection as well as building resilient post-pandemic economies.
The G20 is made up of the largest economies around the world, including the United States, India, China, South Africa, Mexico, Australia, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Together, these countries are responsible sands approximately 80% of the world's economic output and accounts for two-thirds of the world's population.
