Canada expels Russian embassy spokesman for ‘sharing scurrilous stories’ targeting Freeland

The Russian embassy spokesperson in Ottawa who was responsible for the mission’s Twitter account is one of four Russian diplomats being expelled from Canada, Radio Canada International has learned.

Two separate sources have confirmed to RCI that Kirill Kalinin, who was also the first secretary of the embassy’s political section, is among the group of Russian diplomats who were ordered to leave Canada last week.

However, Global Affairs Canada has not released the names of the sanctioned Russian diplomats – one from the embassy in Ottawa and three from the consulate in Montreal – and would not say whether they have already left Canada.

“In accordance with Canadian law, the Russian personnel have until April 5^th (today) to leave Canada,” Global Affairs spokesperson Elizabeth Reid said in email to RCI. “Global Affairs Canada does not provide information on the whereabouts of current and past foreign representatives.”

Russia too has refrained from releasing the names of four Canadian diplomats it ordered to leave Moscow in retaliation for Ottawa’s move.

The expulsion of Russian diplomats was part of a coordinated campaign by mostly Western countries in response to the Kremlin’s alleged role in the poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, Britain.

“The four have been identified as intelligence officers or individuals who have used their diplomatic status to undermine Canada’s security or interfere in our democracy,” Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said last week, announcing the expulsions.

Interference and propaganda

Speaking at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Ottawa Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cited Russian embassy tweets about reports that Freeland’s maternal grandfather was a Ukrainian nationalist intellectual who collaborated with Nazis during WWII as examples of Russian efforts to interfere in Canada’s democratic process.

“I think we all can remember the efforts by Russian propagandists to discredit our minister of foreign affairs in various ways through social media and by sharing scurrilous stories about her,” Trudeau said. “There are multiple ways in which Russia uses cyber, social media propaganda to sway public opinion and try and push a pro-Russia narrative.”

Canadian troops in Latvia are also experiencing “a wave of interference and propaganda” by Russia, Trudeau added.

Trudeau’s comments on Wednesday were the first official explanation of what Ottawa meant by its reference to Russian interference in “our democracy.”

An email request to respond to Trudeau’s comments sent Wednesday afternoon to Kalinin, who usually handled media requests at the Russian embassy, was answered by Vasily Kultyshev, second secretary in the political section of the embassy.

Kultyshev referred to a statement made by the embassy on its Twitter account in which it said it was “outraged” and totally rejected “baseless” accusations against the four expelled Russian diplomats, “which are clearly intended to justify their unfair expulsion.”