Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly asked her services on Monday, November 28 to subpoena Russian Ambassador to Ottawa Oleg Stepanov following the publication of a series of anti-LGBT+ tweets.

News posted by the Russian embassy’s Twitter account reflects the recent passage by the Duma of a bill banning it “Propaganda” LGBT+ or even “Promoting Non-Traditional Sexual Relationships” for all viewers, in the media, on the Internet, in books and films.

“The Russians have once again opted for hate propaganda”said Emily Williams, spokeswoman for Mélanie Joly. “This is an attack on Canadian values ​​of acceptance and tolerance. Minister Joly asked the Ministry to invite the Russian Ambassador to deliver this message to him.”She added.

The Russian tweets included a photo of a rainbow flag crossed out with a red line and accompanied by comments: “It’s all about the family. The family consists of a man, a woman and children. »

“Deeply offended”

The embassy also attacked Canadian Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge, who is openly gay, after denouncing it “Russian homophobic propaganda”. “We cannot tolerate this rhetoric, much less the comments on Minister St-Onge”underlined the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In an email to Agence France-Presse, Pascale St-Onge said “deeply offended by Russian Ambassador’s anti-gay message on Canadian soil”call it a“An insult to the hard-won rights of the entire LGBT+ community”.

Russia is attempting to portray LGBT+ relationships as a product of dangerous Western influences amid the Kremlin’s conservative hardening that accompanies its military offensive in Ukraine.

His embassy tweets were also made public afterwards a fatal shooting at an LGBT+ club in Colorado (USA) and after the dispute over the rainbow logo for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal.