Canada safe haven for 'Ukrainian Nazis': Moscow’s envoy to India

Canada is a safe haven for the Ukrainian Nazis, Moscow’s envoy to New Delhi, Denis Alipov, said on Monday, days after India slammed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government for its reluctance to act against the Khalistani Sikh extremists in the North American nation.

As standing ovations for a 98-year-old man, who had served in one of Adolf Hitler’s Waffen SS units, during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s speech at the Canadian Parliament on Friday triggered a controversy, Russia’s ambassador to India said that Canada had been and continued to be a safe haven “for the Ukrainian Nazis and not only them”. He just stopped short of echoing the allegation of New Delhi, which just a few days back called Canada a safe haven for terrorists.

Alipov’s comment came amid a raging diplomatic war between New Delhi and Ottawa over the killing of a Khalistani Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in Ottawa on September 18 that his government’s security agencies were actively pursuing the ‘credible allegations’ about ‘a potential link’ between New Delhi’s agents and the killing of Nijjar, who had been a citizen of Canada.

Delhi dismissed the allegation and accused Ottawa of ignoring its repeated requests to extradite or crack down on Khalistani Sikh extremists running a secessionist campaign against India. New Delhi last week even called Canada ‘a safe haven for terrorists’ – a term it so far used only for Pakistan.

Zelenskyy’s visit saw Canada pledging to continue its support for Ukraine in its effort to resist Russia’s military aggression.

Alipov’s post on X was part of Moscow’s condemnation of Ottawa for hosting Zelenskyy as well as for the members of the Canadian Parliament for giving two standing ovations for Yaroslav Hunka, who fought for Nazi Germany as a member of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the Waffen SS during the World War II. Russia’s ambassador to India, however, also subtly endorsed New Delhi’s allegation about Canada being a safe haven for terrorists.

Anthony Rota, the speaker of the House of Commons of the Canadian Parliament, apologised after the standing ovations for Hunka drew flak from around the world, particularly from the Jews.

Meanwhile, the Baloch Human Rights Organisation (BHRC) also wrote to Trudeau, pointing out the “stark contrasts” in the Canadian Government’s responses to the killing of Nijjar in Vancouver and to the mysterious death of human rights activist Karima Baloch in Toronto three years back. She had campaigned against the repression of the people of Balochistan and the violation of human rights by the Pakistan Army and its spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). She had left Pakistan and had been living in exile in Canada for five years before being found dead in December 2020. The BHRC questioned the “lack of action” by the Canadian Government after her mysterious death.

Ottawa has also been ignoring Dhaka’s plea for deporting or extraditing Noor Chowdhury, one of the assassins, who had on August 15, 1975, killed Bangladesh’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most members of his family. Though some of the assassins were executed after being sentenced to death by the courts in Bangladesh, five fugitives could not be brought to justice and Noor Chowdhury, who had fled to Canada, is one of them. Canada refused to deport him citing a law that prohibits the deportation of a fugitive to a country where he could face the death penalty.