Armenia refuses to condemn invitation of Nazi veteran to Canadian Parliament

Armenia has refused to condemn the invitation of a Nazi SS veteran to the Parliament of Canada.

The Armenian side abstained from voting on the drafts of two out of three resolutions presented on November 23 at the joint session of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Parliamentary Assembly's standing committee, which was held in the format of a videoconference, Caliber.Az reports citing the Belarus media.

The agenda included three issues - draft recommendations on responsibility for acts regarding the rehabilitation of Nazism and distortion of historical truth, possible consequences of the use of depleted uranium munitions, as well as a draft statement on the attempt to justify and promote in the Canadian Parliament a Nazi from the SS Galicia Division. The latter two resolutions had not been approved by Armenian parliamentarians.

Regarding the draft statement on the possible consequences of the use of uranium shells, the members of the Armenian Parliament expressed the opinion that the document is ambiguous and some of its paragraphs do not comply with the UN General Assembly resolution of December 7, 2022.

“The wording of one of the paragraphs, which makes all the previous ones meaningless, is also unclear. According to this wording, depleted uranium ammunition can be used, but responsibly. Given the aforementioned, the National Assembly of Armenia will not participate in the voting on this issue. And we ask to include our stance in the minutes of the meeting," the parliamentarians emphasized.

In its turn, the CSTO PA Secretariat noted that the principle of consensus will be followed in line with the regulations in this case.

"Taking into account that if one delegation abstains or fails to vote, the document may be adopted with an appropriate notation in the minutes of the meeting," it said.

The draft resolution points out the environmental, humanitarian and man-made consequences caused by radioactive contamination of the environment as a result of the use of depleted uranium munitions. We will remind, earlier such types of shells were used only by NATO countries. Some North Atlantic Treaty Organization member states transferred uranium shells to Ukraine.

Recall that this September, in honor of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to the Canadian Parliament, a 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka (aka Gunko, Gunka), who served in the Ukrainian SS Galicia Division during the war, was invited to a meeting. The Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons, Anthony Rota, then introduced Hunka to the audience as a veteran of the fight against the Russians, and those present began to applaud him.

In this regard, the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly developed a draft statement in connection with the attempt to justify and encourage a Nazi in the Canadian Parliament. However, even there the Armenian side expressed objections. In their opinion, the draft resolution of the CSTO PA includes excessively harsh assessments of the Canadian legislators. The members of the Armenian parliament also described Canada as a friendly country for Yerevan.

“The Armenian side would have been ready to unequivocally join the project if it was strictly under the resolution of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, entitled as combating the glorification of Nazism and neo-Nazism. Taking into account the above-mentioned, the Armenian side's draft on this issue was sent to the Secretariat of the CSTO PA. We propose our colleagues to promptly review and agree on the draft presented by Armenia, make a decision by the relevant standing commission, and then submit a decision to the Council," the Armenian representatives said.