Canada’s foreign minister says she will not meet her Russian counterpart when the two meet at international summits in the coming days.
Mélanie Joly says she is open to the idea of working with China on some issues, but says Russia should be treated as a pariah.
Jolie is traveling to a series of world summits, two of which are attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
He said he would not meet with Lavrov if asked to do so either at the current summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or next week’s G-20 meetings, saying it would legitimize Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Joly recently said Canada would try to limit its ties with China over concerns ranging from human rights to intellectual property.
But Joly says she would welcome a meeting with China’s leadership because Canada wants to work together on issues like climate change.
In fact, Joly said she expects to sit next to a Chinese official in a few days at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, as those summits often feature countries in English alphabetical order.
“There’s an influence battle going on,” Joly said. “Our goal is to isolate Russia economically, politically and diplomatically.”
Jolie noted that Lavrov walked out of a meeting of G20 foreign ministers early last summer, which she described as increasing pressure against Russia.
“There is a growing consensus that what is happening in Ukraine is completely unacceptable.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on November 12, 2022.
