Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would also like to thank the witnesses for their presence and for their very interesting, very enlightening, but also rather worrying testimonies.
Mr. Shekhovtsov, you mentioned at the beginning of your speech that Russia has been waging a political war against western democracies for a number of years, that this has intensified since 2022, that is, since the illegal invasion of Ukraine, and that Canada was one of the main targets because of its support for Ukraine.
I feel like we're losing this political war, especially these days.
You mentioned a few kinds of Russian propaganda messages that make their way to Canada. They say Ukraine is corrupt, for example. Last week, I was in Dublin for a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and we met with the Ukrainian delegation. The first thing the head of the Canadian delegation said to the Ukrainian delegation was that they should know that, if Canada were to learn that the money it was giving to Ukraine was being used for something other than what it was supposed to be used for, i.e., corruption, its support would cease fairly quickly. He was saying that there was corruption everywhere, including in Canada and Ukraine, and that the Ukrainian delegation had to give him that assurance.
So I get the impression that this Russian propaganda message that Ukraine is corrupt is making its way to Canadian elected officials and senators. I wonder how we're supposed to get back to the truth and untangle all this false information circulating and making its way to the Canadian Parliament.
I was surprised to hear this question. Normally, we discuss what Canada is doing to help Ukraine, what more we should be doing, and so on; yet we were addressing the Ukrainian delegation in an almost confrontational way.
I don't know if you're seeing this more and more, but I'd like to hear what you have to say about it.