Russian Ambassador: the fund of a veteran of the SS division “Galicia” was closed in Canada

The University of Alberta in Canada closed the educational foundation named after the veteran of the SS Galicia division Yaroslav Hunka (Gunko) a few hours after the appeal of the Russian diplomatic mission. This was announced by the Russian Ambassador to Canada Oleg Stepanov, transmits “RIA News”.

The diplomat noted that the fund continued to exist even after the scandal with the invitation of the SS man to the Canadian parliament, until the diplomatic mission drew attention to it.

“Literally a few hours later – this morning (September 28 – Vedomosti) – the university publicly announced that it was closing the fund, returning the money and regretting that it could cause inconvenience and sadness to someone. The work of the embassy here turned out to be timely and correct,” Stepanov said.

On September 22, Speaker of the House of Commons Anthony Rota invited Hunka to a meeting of the Canadian Parliament with the participation of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. The SS veteran was presented as a war hero and honored with applause. Rota later apologized “to every Holocaust survivor and World War II veteran.” On September 26, it became known that the Speaker of the House of Commons would resign.

On September 27, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, speaking in the House of Commons, called the incident a disgrace “for all of Canada.” He also apologized to Zelensky and the Ukrainian delegation “for the position in which they were placed,” stressing that Ottawa will continue to support Kyiv. The Russian embassy considered that these words were not enough, and called Trudeau apologize to the Russians.

The Kremlin previously called this attitude in Canada towards the memory of World War II “sloppy.” Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov notedthat Ottawa should learn a lesson from the situation and in the future stand in solidarity with the Russian Federation’s initiatives to condemn Nazism.

At the Russian Embassy in Canada reportedthat Moscow is studying Hunka’s history and may initiate a criminal case and a request for his extradition.