OTTAWA, February 13. /TASS/. Russian diplomats will hold a meeting at the Canadian Foreign Ministry on February 13 in connection with the receipt of a note in which the Canadian side refused to extradite a Nazi of the SS Galician Division Yaroslav Hunka, 98, Russian Ambassador to Ottawa Oleg Stepanov told a TASS correspondent.
"A meeting is scheduled for today at the Canadian Foreign Ministry," the diplomat said. "We will ask if they are to investigate Hunka’s past at the national level, and also clarify whether he declared his SS past when he obtained Canadian citizenship. If he lied, that is grounds for automatic revocation [of citizenship]," the ambassador pointed out.
Stepanov specified that "the formal [reason for refusing extradition] is the absence of an extradition treaty [between Canada and Russia]."
Earlier, Stepanov told TASS that on December 19, 2023, the embassy submitted to the Canadian Foreign Ministry the appeal of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office to extradite Hunka to Russia. The Canadian Justice Ministry told TASS that it would not comment on whether the agency had received a request from the Russian Prosecutor General's Office to extradite Hunka, as such requests are confidential until the court's decision. The Russian Investigative Committee charged Hunka in absentia with the genocide of Ukrainian civilians during the Great Patriotic War.
Nazi in Parliament
On September 22, 2023, during Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's appearance before the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa, the audience gave two standing ovations to invited guest Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian emigre who in 1943 had volunteered to serve in the Nazi 14th SS-Volunteer Division "Galicia." On September 26, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly called for the resignation of House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota, who had introduced Hunka to the audience, praising him as a war veteran who fought "against the Russians" during World War II. Joly called the incident "absolutely unacceptable" and "a disgrace to the House [of Commons] and to Canadians." Rota subsequently tendered his resignation. On September 27, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized for the incident.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the public praise of the Nazi "epitomizes the ruling regime of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to a T," declaring that Russia does not intend to "tolerate the way Canadian liberals flirt with Nazism."
Stepanov told TASS earlier that Trudeau could not clearly formulate his position on the appearance of the Ukrainian Nazi in the Canadian parliament against the background of the internal political struggle. In this regard, it is difficult for Moscow to understand the position of his cabinet, the ambassador pointed out.