The leader of the Green Party of Quebec supports Vladimir Putin’s claims in Ukraine and believes that Canada is helping neo-Nazis by supplying arms to the Zelensky government.
“Canada is sending several shipments of weapons to Ukraine and it is very possible that these weapons are in the hands of [de milices ukrainiennes néonazies] then that is a serious mistake,” lamented the leader of the Green Party of Quebec, Alex Tyrell, in an interview yesterday with The newspaper.
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He agreed to clarify and expand on comments that sparked controversy on Twitter over the weekend. Tyrell said in particular that he supported the “denazification of Ukraine”.
For several weeks now, the Kremlin has been suggesting that the Ukrainian government is plagued by neo-Nazis and drug addicts. This is also one of the pretexts invoked by Putin to invade Ukraine.
According to Tyrrell, it is a fact that the Ukrainian government is close to far-right militias.
These remarks, very badly received in Quebec, earned him an invitation in the last few days to speak to the Russian media. Izvestia, he told us. This media is one of those in Russia that sticks to the Putin government’s version of the war in Ukraine.
Photo: AFP
A wounded Ukrainian serviceman smokes a cigarette after taking part in fighting in the southeastern Lugansk region.
The leader of the Green Party clarified that, in his opinion, Russia’s demands addressed to Ukraine are completely legitimate.
They consist for him in recognizing two new independent countries on the current territory of Ukraine and in recognizing the annexation of Crimea by Russia. We must also purge the Ukrainian army of its “neo-Nazi” elements, according to the Quebec politician.
This proximity of the leader of the Green Party to Putin’s position is surprising. Especially since in the United States, the Green Party has already been suspected of having received support from the Russians.
When Putin Says We Should Demilitarize Ukraine […]I think it’s a legitimate request,” he said.
“The weapons that Canada sent [à l’Ukraine]it was a mistake, even before the invasion, I had denounced the sending of weapons,” he continued.
Environmentalists have made a point of publicly distancing themselves from Tyrell’s remarks.
“His position finds no echo,” said Marc-André Viau, director of government relations at Équiterre.
“I don’t know him, but he has always had a very, very particular behavior,” said Pierre Nantel, candidate for the Parti Québécois and former candidate for the Green Party of Canada.
Words that leave you perplexed
“Canada should immediately end its material and diplomatic support to Ukraine. »
“The Kyiv government allowed the Nazis to dominate their political system without control. »
– Alex Tyrrell, Leader of the Green Party of Quebec
The Green Party of the United States, to which the leader of the Green Party of Quebec says he is very close, has already been suspected of being under the influence of the Russian government.
Two US Senate reports in 2018 concluded that Russian influence on social media was aimed at favoring the candidacy of the leader of the US Green Party, Jill Stein, in the 2016 election.
This influence was directed towards the African-American community and was a way to harm Hillary Clinton’s campaign against Donald Trump, according to one of the reports.
The Green Party leader, who has always denied a Russian influence, was photographed in Russia in 2015, sitting at the same table as Vladimir Putin during a dinner organized by the media Russia Today (RT).
At the same table were other big names in the Russian government.
On his Twitter account, Alex Tyrrell relayed the US Green Party’s position on the war in Ukraine on March 5, calling for a diplomatic solution to the conflict and a ceasefire.
Yesterday, he said he felt very close ideologically to the American Green Party. According to him, this party was even closer to the Green Party of Quebec than the Green Party of Canada.
Alex Tyrrell mentioned meeting Jill Stein in 2019 while meeting in Maine.
The leader of the Green Party of Quebec, however, stressed that according to him, his party had never received funding or support from the Russian government.
“I know a lot of Russian people who are here in Canada. The world does not understand this conflict. There is this demonization of Russia and the Russian people, ”he underlines.
Alex Tyrrell also told us that he sometimes gets news from Russia Today, a Russian government-funded outlet that was banned from the air by several Canadian providers in late February.
He has even been a regular speaker on the RT France channel, he said.
On the subject of the Kremlin’s control over the media in Russia, Alex Tyrrell passed the buck, saying that the Canadian government also sometimes controls what Canadians can see.
“Here in Canada, there was a whole process to dismiss RT [des ondes]. Are we against Russian censorship, but do we want to bring censorship to Canada? he asked.
Reference-www.tvanouvelles.ca