After the speaker of the House of Commons lauded a Nazi veteran in the chamber while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was present, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a formal apology on Wednesday.
Additionally, Trudeau stated that Ottawa has previously apologized to Kyiv to Zelenskiy via diplomatic means.
After openly praising veteran Yaroslav Hunka in the House last Friday and referring to him as a hero, Anthony Rota resigned as speaker of the house on Tuesday and claimed entire responsibility for what transpired. Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian of Polish descent, participated in one of Adolf Hitler's Waffen SS divisions during World War Two. Later, he moved to Canada.
The episode, according to Russia, supports its claim that the goal of the Ukrainian conflict is to "denazify" the nation. Kyiv and its Western allies reject this claim as unfounded.
President Zelenskiy and the Ukrainian delegation deserve our sincere regrets for what happened on Friday, Trudeau said in a statement to the House on Wednesday. "On behalf of all of us in this House, I would like to present unreserved apologies," he said.
It was a dreadful error and an insult to the memories of those who endured such suffering at the hands of the Nazi government for any of us to have unwittingly recognized this person.
The Canadian Parliament should formally condemn Nazism, according to a statement from the Kremlin earlier in the day.
In previous remarks to reporters, Trudeau said, "It is incredibly worrisome to believe that this egregious blunder is being politicized by Russia and its supporters to give misleading propaganda about what Ukraine is fighting for.
Hunka resides in the legislative district of Rota. Trudeau asserted that the speaker's invitations were not subject to review by the Liberal administration.
Given that he had asked Zelenskiy to address the Canadian parliament, the official opposition Conservatives claim that Trudeau was ultimately to blame for what transpired and have accused him of incompetence.
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