Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that former House of Commons speaker Anthony Rota was either an “idiot” or a “villain” and parliament was “disgusting” for applauding a former Nazi..“If the speaker of the Canadian parliament says that during World War II this Canadian-Ukrainian or Ukrainian-Canadian Nazi fought against the Russians, he cannot help but understand that he fought on the side of Hitler,” Putin said at a Thursday meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi, Russia..“I in no way want to offend the feelings of the Canadian people. We relate to Canada no matter what, with respect especially to the people. But if he doesn’t know that Hitler and his minions fought against Russia during the war, then he’s an idiot,” Putin said, to chuckles and applause from the audience..“It means he just didn’t go to school, has no basic knowledge. But if he knows that this man fought on Hitler’s side and calls him a hero of Ukraine and a hero of Canada, then he is a villain. Either this or that.”.On Sept 22, the Canadian House of Commons gave a standing ovation to Yaroslav Hunka, a Second World War veteran who fought for “Ukrainian independence” from Russia, as Rota described it. .The 98-year-old Hunka had been a member of the First Ukrainian Division, a Nazi Waffen SS unit established in 1943. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was beside him during Rota’s introduction. However, on Sept 26, Rota resigned as speaker for his “mistake.".All 338 MPs stood to applaud Hunka..“It looked absolutely disgusting that everyone applauded this Nazi, especially the president of Ukraine, who has Jewish blood in his veins.”."He [Rota] essentially lumped together Nazi collaborators, SS troops and the Ukrainian military of today who are fighting against Russia," Putin said.."He lumped them together. This only confirms our thesis that one of our goals in Ukraine is denazification.".Asked about Putin’s comments, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said people shouldn’t listen to him.."I would really urge all of us to understand that Russian propaganda is real ... and we need to push back very, very hard against everything that Vladimir Putin says and does," Freeland told reporters in Ottawa..The Russian leader painted the west as the aggressor in the Ukraine, starting with the “coup” in 2014, but continuing through the regime’s aggression against Russian speaking areas in eastern Ukraine prior to Russia’s invasion. .Putin weighed in on other topics in his speech and a question-and-answer session that followed. He said Western elites were imposing their interests on other countries while imposing their values at home. He said people were “forced” into believing things that in their hearts they rejected..“This is the manifestation of a colonial mindset. We’re constantly hearing ‘you must’, ‘you have to’, ‘we’re seriously warning you.’ Who are you? What right do you have to warn anyone?” Putin asked..Putin added that high energy prices in Europe were due to United States pressure..“There is one pipe left of Nord Stream 2, it’s not damaged. It can deliver 27.5 billion cubic meters of gas into Europe. It only takes a decision from the German government, nothing else. Today a decision, tomorrow we turn on the tap and the gas flows. But they aren’t making it because Washington says no.”
