Mr. Speaker, Toronto defence lawyer Robert Amsterdam was recently expelled from Russia with less than 24 hours notice while working on a highly politicized case.
Agents of Putin's alma mater, the KGB or FSB, as it has been renamed under the new regime, came knocking at 1 a.m. They confiscated his passport, returning it hours later with a cancelled visa and expelled him from the country. In Vladimir Putin's Russia, the FSB is rediscovering its KGB roots.
As well, during a September 5 conference Mr. Putin bluntly told the west not to encourage democratic processes in former Soviet states as these were his turf.
A forceful message must be sent by Canada indicating its concerns about increasing violations of human rights and decreasing democratic rights that have developed under former KGB officer Putin's Russia. Perhaps we should not only reconsider Russia hosting the G-8 conference in 2006 but review the appropriateness of its membership.