Mr. Speaker, the minister rightly pointed out that 100,000 Russian troops have been amassed on the Ukrainian border.
If that sounds familiar, it is because last winter and spring there were also some 100,000 Russian troops amassed at the Ukrainian border.
As members know, I am vice-chair of the Canada-Ukraine Friendship Group, and the chair of this group is here today. On April 22, 2021, representatives from the foreign affairs and defence departments graciously briefed us on the situation.
Last week, these same departments gave us another briefing, and I must say that it was certainly similar to the first one. I asked if there had been any news since then, and the representative from foreign affairs candidly told me that, aside from troop movements at the Ukrainian border and in Belarus, he did not really know.
My question for the minister is the following. The government decided to join the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia in withdrawing non-essential personnel from the embassy, while our other NATO allies did not. Does this decision not stoke the fear of further aggression in Ukraine, which even the Ukrainian authorities have denounced?
Even the Ukrainians are calling for this to stop. They are struggling under the weight of these tensions.