MADRID, Nov. 29 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly summoned Russian Ambassador Oleg Stepanov on Monday to demand an explanation of a series of anti-LGBT social media posts from the Russian Embassy in Ottawa.

“As expected, the Russians have once again chosen hate propaganda. We absolutely cannot tolerate this rhetoric. It is an attack on Canadian values ​​of acceptance and tolerance,” the minister said, as reported by CBC.

With this nomination, it is the third time that Joly summons Stepanov since the beginning of the year.

For the past few days, the Russian Embassy in Canada has been posting messages on the Twitter and Telegram platforms in which it assures that the West “imposes family values” and that “families can only include a man, a woman and children,” it says. The Globe and Mail’.

Similarly, he accused the Canadian government of interfering in Russian affairs, when he spoke directly to Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge.

St-Onge, a member of the LGBT community, criticized the Russian legislation, calling it “homophobic propaganda” and an “attack on human rights”. The embassy lambasted her in response.

These tweets were posted after the Russian Duma approved a law that toughens and expands penalties against those who post LGTBI content.

The Russian ruling party justified this reform by the need to fight against “scourges like paedophilia”, but for human rights organizations, this rule meant a new stage in the repression against the LGTBI collective .

Fines for LGTBI “propaganda” can reach 400,000 rubles (about 6,400 euros) in the case of ordinary citizens, or 800,000 rubles in the case of civil servants. In the case of the entities, the fine amounts to 5 million (more than 79,000 euros), the Interfax agency reported.

RUSSIA ASK CANADA NOT TO INTERVENE IN ITS INTERNAL AFFAIRS

The Russian ambassador said Moscow hopes Canada will not interfere in its internal affairs after criticizing the passage of the anti-LGBT law.

Stepanov reported that he explained to Canadian authorities the essence of “laws on the preservation of traditional values” and “the basis of state policy” in the country.

“I recalled that our country is the bearer and depository of traditional values, that the four traditional religions are represented in our country,” he said, as reported by the Tass news agency.

In this sense, the Russian diplomat maintained that “Western governments, including that of Canada, must respect the opinions on the life of the majority of the Russian population”.

Thus, Stepanov assured that the Canadian movement to criticize the passage of the law through the Foreign Ministry is “an interference in the internal affairs of Russia, as well as an attempt to influence the legislative process. independent in a sovereign state”.