Experts divided on fallout of Freeland becoming foreign minister

The door may be open in Washington to Canada’s new foreign affairs minister, but it’s closed — even barred shut — in Moscow.

And depending on whom you ask, it may stay that way.

Chrystia Freeland, who took over as Canada’s top diplomat on Tuesday, is one of the prominent names on Russia’s sanctions list.

The Liberal government attempted to frame the shuffling of six ministers — including the unceremonious end to the career of Freeland’s predecessor, Stéphane Dion — as a shake-up ahead of the U.S. inauguration of Donald Trump.

But international experts and observers say the Kremlin will likely be the one to sit up and take notice.

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Freeland’s elevation in cabinet represents a tacit recognition that Russia has moved back to the top of global affairs, and that the file requires someone with a deep understanding of the issues and the players.

“It’s a bold appointment,” said Dominique Arel, an associate professor and the chair of Ukrainian studies at the University of Ottawa. “Symbolically, it is a very, very bold move.”

He said Freeland, whose maternal grandparents were Ukrainian, “has been outspoken and articulate on the Ukraine question.” That’s what landed her on the sanctions list following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in the spring of 2014.

‘We are open to develop bilateral relations on the basis of mutual respect and reciprocity.’
– Kirill Kalinin, Russian embassy spokesman in Ottawa

Both Arel and Paul Grod, the head of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said they can’t imagine Freeland will remain on that list much longer, even if her removal is a diplomatic courtesy.

Her blacklisted status is “a question for Moscow” to address, Freeland told reporters, noting that she supports the Liberal government’s long-standing view that it’s important to engage with all countries, including Russia, where she lived for four years as a journalist.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau brushed aside the concerns, pointing to her success in finalizing a free trade deal with Europe.

“As for how she gets along with Russia, well, she speaks fluent Russian,” Trudeau said.

Muted Russian response

A statement from the Russian embassy in Ottawa made no mention of the appointment or the sanctions, but instead focused on the relationship between the two countries going forward.

“We hope that the Canadian government will follow its stated intention to further re-engage with Russia in areas of common interest,” spokesman Kirill Kalinin said in an email. “We are open to develop bilateral relations on the basis of mutual respect and reciprocity.”

Freeland has criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for his tactics in Ukraine and has attracted attention in the Kremlin for writing about corruption in Russia. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

The Liberals campaigned in 2015 on the intention of warming relations with Moscow, but another expert in eastern European studies says that “brief era” is drawing to a close.

Making Freeland the country’s top diplomat will return the exchange between the two countries back to the deep freeze, said Piotr Dutkiewicz, the director of the Institute of European and Russian Studies at Carleton University.

He said Moscow’s animosity towards her extends beyond criticism over Ukraine. The Kremlin remembers her book, Sale of the Century, which was published in 2000 and took on the nation’s economic culture of kleptocracy.

“I believe it will be a period of frozen relations on both sides,” he said. “Ms. Freeland is heavily anti-Russian biased.”

Although the Russians are “pragmatic,” he said he wonders what kind of dialogue they can have with her.

At odds with Trump’s America

Dutkiewicz also said he believes Freeland’s views will create a wedge between Canada and the U.S., at least on the question of Russia — if Trump is truly as friendly toward President Vladimir Putin as his Twitter posts would suggest.

A falling out with Washington over Moscow would be disastrous, he said.

“It will further diminish our capacity in the forum of international relations,” said Dutkiewicz, who suggested the U.S. would simply stop inviting Canada to the table on issues such as Ukraine. “And you know that old phrase: if you are not at the table, you are on the menu.”

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly stressed the importance of a positive relationship between the United States and Putin’s Russia. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Grod disagreed and said he believes that Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, could find a lot of common ground with Freeland, since both of them have intimate knowledge of Russia and its key players.

In contrast to Freeland, Tillerson — the former ExxonMobil CEO — was honoured in 2013 with one of the Kremlin’s highest honours, the Order of Friendship.

The Ukrainian embassy did not respond on Tuesday to requests for comment on Freeland’s appointment.

Freeland’s vocal opposition to the annexation of Crimea, and to Russia’s support of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, has endeared her to Canada’s Ukrainian ex-pat community.

Many of the key movers and shakers in President Petro Poroshenko’s government have sought meetings with her when in Ottawa.

Freeland attempted to strike a gracious tone when asked about her blunt criticism of Putin’s government.

“I know Russia well,” she said. “I lived in Moscow for four years and really, really enjoyed it. And I have a really deep love for the Russian language and Russian culture.”

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Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/freeland-russia-fallout-1.3930024?cmp=rss