{"id":62848,"date":"2017-01-11T21:35:32","date_gmt":"2017-01-11T21:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/freelands-promotion-a-very-very-bold-move-in-canada-russia-relations-2.html"},"modified":"2017-01-11T21:35:32","modified_gmt":"2017-01-11T21:35:32","slug":"freelands-promotion-a-very-very-bold-move-in-canada-russia-relations-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/freelands-promotion-a-very-very-bold-move-in-canada-russia-relations-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Freeland&#8217;s promotion a &#8216;very, very bold move&#8217; in Canada-Russia relations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The door may be open in Washington to Canada&#8217;s new foreign affairs minister, but it&#8217;s closed \u2014 even barred shut \u2014\u00a0in Moscow.<\/p>\n<p>And depending on whom you ask, it\u00a0may stay that way.<\/p>\n<p>Chrystia Freeland, who is now Canada&#8217;s\u00a0top diplomat, is one of the prominent names sanctioned by Russia.<\/p>\n<p>And a spokeswoman for that country&#8217;s foreign ministry hinted on Wednesday that removing her from the blacklist would depend on the Trudeau government taking action.<\/p>\n<p>Maria\u00a0Zaharova told CBC News on Wednesday that the sanctions were a &#8220;countermeasure&#8221; in response to those Canada imposed on Russia.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Withdrawing her from the list is an issue of reciprocity, mirror-like,&#8221;\u00a0Zaharova\u00a0said, adding that nothing prevents\u00a0Freeland\u00a0from meeting with Russian officials outside Russia.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0&#8220;We are ready to co-operate and to improve relations with Canada,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We are ready to normalize relations with Canada.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"><strong>Justin\u00a0Trudeau&#8217;s\u00a0redesigned cabinet<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Freeland\u00a0in,\u00a0Dion\u00a0out in\u00a0Trudeau\u00a0cabinet shuffle<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"><strong>3 new faces in the Liberal cabinet<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A spokesman for Freeland answered late Wednesday, suggesting Canada was not about to update its sanctions policy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I can tell you that there is no quid pro quo for aggression and illegal action on their part,&#8221; said\u00a0Joseph Pickerill, referring to the Russian annexation of Crimea.<\/p>\n<p>The Liberal government attempted to frame the shuffling of six ministers \u2014\u00a0including the unceremonious end to the career of Freeland&#8217;s predecessor, St\u00e9phane Dion \u2014\u00a0as a shakeup ahead of the U.S. inauguration of Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p>But international experts and observers say the Kremlin will likely be the one to sit up and take notice.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>Freeland&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a bold appointment,&#8221; said Dominique Arel, an associate professor and the chair of Ukrainian studies at the University of Ottawa. &#8220;Symbolically, it is a very, very bold move.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He said Freeland, whose maternal grandparents were Ukrainian,\u00a0&#8220;has been outspoken and articulate on the Ukraine question.&#8221; That&#8217;s\u00a0what landed her on the sanctions list following Russia&#8217;s annexation of Crimea in the spring of 2014.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"pullquote\"><p>\n <span class=\"pullquote-quotation\">&#8216;We are open to develop bilateral relations on the basis of mutual respect and reciprocity.&#8217;<\/span><br \/>\n <cite class=\"pullquote-source\">&#8211;\u00a0<span class=\"scayt-misspell-word\"><span class=\"scayt-misspell-word\">Kirill<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"scayt-misspell-word\"><span class=\"scayt-misspell-word\">Kalinin<\/span><\/span>, Russian embassy spokesman in Ottawa<\/cite>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Both Arel and Paul Grod, the head of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said they can&#8217;t imagine Freeland will remain on that list\u00a0much longer, even if her removal is a diplomatic courtesy.<\/p>\n<p>Her blacklisted status is &#8220;a question for Moscow&#8221; to address, Freeland told reporters, noting that she supports the Liberal government&#8217;s long-standing view that it&#8217;s important to engage with all countries, including Russia, where she lived for four years as a journalist.<\/p>\n<h2>&#8216;Hope \u2026 to further re-engage&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>Prime Minister Justin\u00a0Trudeau had\u00a0brushed aside concerns after his new foreign minister was sworn in, pointing to her success in finalizing a free trade deal with Europe.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>&#8220;As for how she gets along with Russia, well, she speaks fluent Russian,&#8221;\u00a0Trudeau\u00a0said.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/c80b3_83925057.jpg\" alt=\"83925057\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\">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)<\/p>\n<p>Ukraine&#8217;s ambassador to Canada, Andriy Shevchenko, said he believes Freeland&#8217;s appointment means Canada will continue to stand fast when it comes to sanctions, imposed by the former Conservative government and recently enhanced by the Liberals.<\/p>\n<p>In late November, Trudeau&#8217;s cabinet quietly agreed to impose another round of restrictions, adding\u00a0six members the Russian parliament to Canada&#8217;s list. Each of them represent districts within the contested Crimean region.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Liberals campaigned in 2015 on the intention of warming relations with Moscow, but another expert in eastern European studies says that &#8220;brief era&#8221; is drawing to a close.<\/p>\n<p>Making Freeland the country&#8217;s top diplomat will return the exchange between the two countries back to the deep freeze, said\u00a0Piotr Dutkiewicz, the director of the Institute of European and Russian Studies at Carleton University.<\/p>\n<p>He said Moscow&#8217;s animosity towards her extends beyond criticism over Ukraine. The Kremlin remembers her book, <em>Sale of the Century<\/em>, which was published in 2000 and took on the nation&#8217;s economic culture of kleptocracy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I believe it will be a period of frozen relations on both sides,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Ms. Freeland is heavily anti-Russian biased.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Although\u00a0the Russians are &#8220;pragmatic,&#8221; he said he wonders what kind of dialogue they can have with her.<\/p>\n<h2>At odds with Trump&#8217;s America<\/h2>\n<p>Dutkiewicz also said he believes Freeland&#8217;s views will create a wedge between Canada and the U.S., at least on the question of Russia \u2014\u00a0if Trump is truly as friendly toward\u00a0President Vladimir Putin as his Twitter posts would suggest.<\/p>\n<p>A falling out with Washington over Moscow would be disastrous, he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It will further diminish our capacity in the forum of international relations,&#8221; said Dutkiewicz, who suggested the U.S. would simply stop inviting Canada to the table on issues such as Ukraine. &#8220;And you know\u00a0that old phrase: if you are not at the table, you are on the menu.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/c80b3_93754044.jpg\" alt=\"93754044\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\">U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly stressed the importance of a positive relationship between the United States and Putin&#8217;s Russia. (Drew Angerer\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Grod disagreed and said he believes that Trump&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast to Freeland, Tillerson \u2014 the former ExxonMobil CEO \u2014 was honoured in 2013 with one of the Kremlin&#8217;s highest honours, the Order of Friendship.<\/p>\n<p>Shevchenko says President\u00a0Petro\u00a0Poroshenko telephoned Freeland to congratulate her, but no one in Kiev is expecting the country will get a free ride because she knows it so well.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;She knows our strong sides and our drawbacks,&#8221; he said. &#8220;She know quite well the Ukrainian elite. She knows quite well the corruption we have been fighting. I think we can\u00a0expect a very strong, sincere and honest conversation between the two countries.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\"><strong class=\"spaced\">Ukraine crisis a long game: Liberal MP<\/strong>7:12<\/p>\n<p>Freeland attempted to strike a gracious tone when asked about her blunt criticism of Putin&#8217;s government.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I know Russia well,&#8221; she said. &#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>ANALYSIS |\u00a0<a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Building a sturdier cabinet to withstand Trump<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>ANALYSIS |\u00a0<a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Dion&#8217;s\u00a0political career ends<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p \/>\n<p>Article source: http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/freeland-russia-fallout-1.3930024?cmp=rss<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The door may be open in Washington to Canada&#8217;s new foreign affairs minister, but it&#8217;s closed \u2014 even barred shut \u2014\u00a0in Moscow. And depending on whom you ask, it\u00a0may stay that way. Chrystia Freeland, who is now Canada&#8217;s\u00a0top diplomat, is one of the prominent names sanctioned by Russia. And a spokeswoman for that country&#8217;s foreign [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62850,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-62848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}