Trudeau heads to Europe to meet allies amid fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

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OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is heading to a number of European capitals to strategize with allies as fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine intensifies.

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Trudeau will spend subsequent week in conferences in London and Berlin in addition to Riga, Latvia, and Warsaw, Poland, saying he’s becoming a member of companions to face towards Moscow’s aggression and strengthen democratic values.

Allies can even work on countering “the form of disinformation and misinformation that we all know is a side of day-to-day life as of late, however a very robust side of this battle, this warfare in Ukraine,” Trudeau stated throughout a information convention Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has chosen to make use of navy would possibly and violence to attain his ends, however he’ll fail, Trudeau stated.

“The most important and strongest response we’ve had is definitely in crippling the Russian financial system, demonstrating to all Russians that Vladimir Putin made a horrible mistake,” he stated.

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“The co-ordinated financial sanctions are working. Russia is reeling from the robust and aligned measures that democracies around the globe have engaged in.”

Canada’s overseas affairs minister met counterparts at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Friday to advance persevering with efforts to sanction Russia for its invasion.

Earlier than the assembly, Melanie Joly stated ministers deliberate to debate a Russian assault on a serious nuclear energy plant within the jap Ukraine metropolis of Enerhodar.

Russian troops seized the plant, the most important in Europe, after a middle-of-the-night assault that set it on hearth and briefly raised worldwide fears of a disaster.

Firefighters put out the blaze, and no radiation was launched, United Nations and Ukrainian officers stated, as Russian forces pressed on with their week-old offensive on a number of fronts and the variety of refugees fleeing the nation topped 1.2 million.

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Joly tweeted Friday that she spoke to the director common of the Worldwide Atomic Vitality Company in regards to the episode.

“We name on the Russian regime to cease threatening nuclear sources,” she stated. “A numerous variety of civilian lives are put in danger by these reckless acts.”

Trudeau stated late Thursday he had spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in regards to the assault on the ability plant.

Following the assault, Zelenskyy appealed once more to the West to implement a no-fly zone over his nation. However NATO Secretary-Common Jens Stoltenberg dominated out that risk, citing the chance of a a lot wider warfare in Europe.

He stated the one option to implement a no-fly zone can be to ship NATO planes to implement it by taking pictures down Russian plane.

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“We perceive the desperation, however we additionally consider that if we did that, we might find yourself with one thing that might finish in a full-fledged warfare in Europe,” Stoltenberg stated.

The refusal to implement a no-fly zone over Ukrainian territory reveals a profound misunderstanding of the gravity of the state of affairs by which the world finds itself, stated Alexandra Chyczij, nationwide president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

“Russia’s warfare of genocide towards the Ukrainian folks will not be solely a warfare towards Ukraine. If Putin wins in Ukraine, the remainder of Europe and the world will likely be threatened and menaced by his regime,” Chyczij stated.

“Russia is indiscriminately bombing and shelling Ukrainian civilians, purposely murdering harmless folks.”

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Trudeau echoed Stoltenberg in defending the choice to not implement a no-fly zone.

“The factor that we now have thus far prevented, and we’ll proceed to want to keep away from, is placing a state of affairs by which NATO forces are in direct battle with Russian troopers,” he stated.

“That will be a degree of escalation that’s unlucky.”

In London, Trudeau plans to fulfill with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in addition to Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte, to co-ordinate further responses to Russia’s invasion, the Canadian Prime Minister’s Workplace stated.

Trudeau can even have an viewers with the Queen throughout his go to.

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On Tuesday, the prime minister heads to Riga, the place he’ll meet a number of leaders from the area, earlier than shifting on to Germany and Poland. Whereas in Latvia, Trudeau additionally plans to see Stoltenberg and Canadian Armed Forces members serving as a part of Operation Reassurance.

CBC/Radio-Canada stated Friday it was very involved about new laws handed in Russia, saying it seems to criminalize unbiased reporting on the present state of affairs in Ukraine and Russia.

“In mild of this example and out of concern for the chance to our journalists and employees in Russia, we now have briefly suspended our reporting from the bottom in Russia whereas we get readability on this laws,” the general public broadcaster stated in a press release.

“We be part of different media in standing up for a free press and unimpeded entry to correct, unbiased journalism in Ukraine and Russia.”

— With information from The Related Press