MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. Canada is reluctant to implement Interpol’s decision on Ukrainian Nazi Yaroslav Hunka, thus reviving Nazism, Russian Ambassador to Ottawa Oleg Stepanov said in an interview with TASS.
"Canada is well aware that Hunka is wanted by Interpol. If the country is unwilling to extradite him, it must bring him to trial. A refusal to do so means harboring a Nazi war criminal, justifying his atrocities, and, in fact, reviving Nazism," the Russian envoy pointed out.
He specified that Russia, for its part, acted in strict compliance with international law, including the 1968 UN Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity.
"We filed an official request for Hunka’s extradition back in 2023 but Canada rejected it twice under absurd pretexts. First, it pointed to the absence of legal aid arrangements between our countries and later, cited allegedly insufficient evidence," Stepanov went on to say. "Now, the Canadian authorities are even trying to shift the responsibility to Poland, saying that they are ready to consider a request if it comes from Warsaw," he added.
According to the Russian ambassador, these are just excuses. "The Polish authorities are unwilling to address the issue of Ukrainian nationalists’ role in the massive killings of Poles during World War II, putting it off until later. Right now, Ukraine is more important for them as a tool in the West’s common proxy war against Russia," Stepanov concluded.
Nazi war criminal in parliament
On September 22, 2023, during Vladimir Zelensky's address to Canada’s parliament, the audience gave a standing ovation to Yaroslav Hunka, who in 1943 had volunteered to serve in the Nazi 14th SS-Volunteer Division "Galicia." Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly called for the resignation of House of Commons (lower house) Speaker Anthony Rota, who had taken the blame for inviting a Nazi into parliament. Later, Rota announced his resignation. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in turn, formally apologized for the incident.
After the scandal, the Canadian public demanded the publication of the archives of Jules Deschenes’s commission, which in 1986-1987 looked into the individuals suspected of committing war crimes during World War II who had taken shelter in Canada. Much of its report, including the lists of war criminals, was never made public.