‘End this madness’: Canada’s foreign affairs minister denounces Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Canada’s foreign affairs minister has told the United Nations’ Human Rights Council Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the largest threat to global peace in 70 years.

“We call on Russia to respect the human rights not only of Ukrainians but also of its own citizens who, by thousands, have taken to the streets in protest of this unjust war,” said Minister Mélanie Joly.

She says Russia’s actions make the protection of human rights even more urgent.

“The protection of civilian lives must be the highest priority for this international community. We continue to call on Russia to cease its attack immediately. No more lives should be lost.”

Saying millions of Ukrainians are suffering the indignity of war, Joly says Russia has “tried to make a mockery of our international system,” adding “the world is watching.”

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She says Russia lied to the world ahead of its invasion.

“They are trying to justify their war by spreading false rhetoric and attempting to manipulate the principles of human rights and to support their illegal and illegitimate violence,” she said.

In its latest round of sanctions against Russia, the federal government has banned Canadian financial institutions from any transactions with the Russian Central Bank. The move is an effort to restrict Russia’s ability to finance its invasion.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced Monday that effective immediately, all Canadian financial institutions are prohibited from engaging in any transaction with the Russian Central Bank.

“Canada and its allies continue to take concerted action to ensure that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will be a strategic failure. This has never been done before at this scale – today we are taking a historic step by directly censuring Russia’s central bank,” Freeland said in a statement.

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In addition, Canada imposed an asset freeze and a dealings prohibition on Russian sovereign wealth funds.

The federal government has already placed sanctions on Russian elites and politicians, including Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, as well as individual banks.

Joly says the international community has a responsibility to speak up and to act, and demand “that Putin’s Russia end this madness.”

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