Russia yesterday described as “outrageous” what happened last Friday in the Canadian Parliament, when its president, Anthony Rota, praised a former Ukrainian soldier who served in a Nazi unit during World War II. “This neglect of memory is scandalous. “Many Western countries, including Canada, have raised a generation that does not know who fought with whom, they do not know anything about the threat of fascism,” said Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov.
During the visit to Ottawa of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Speaker of the Commons (Lower House of the Canadian Parliament), Anthony Rota, greeted Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian immigrant, from the rostrum on Friday. “He is a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero, and we thank him for his service,” he said after Zelensky gave a speech, drawing a warm applause from deputies.
On Sunday, a defense association for the Jewish community in Canada, Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, demanded an apology, as Hunka was part of the 14th Grenadier Division of the Waffen-SS, also known as Galizien. Composed of Ukrainian volunteers to fight against the USSR, it was “a Nazi military unit whose crimes against humanity during the Holocaust are well documented,” the organization denounced.
Rota apologized on Sunday. “I have since learned more information that makes me regret my decision to honor Hunka. “I want to make it clear that no one, including my parliamentary colleagues and the Ukrainian delegation, knew my intention or my comments before he uttered them,” she asserted. And she expressed her “sincere apologies to the Jewish communities in Canada and around the world.”
Hunka’s recognition included cheers and applause. Zelensky himself raised his fist in recognition while Hunka saluted from the stands.
