Canada has begun its presidency of the G7.

Starting from January 2025, Canada has taken on its annual presidency of the G7.

This was reported by Danilo Lubkivsky, the diplomatic advisor to former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk during 2015–2016 and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in 2014, in his article for the newspaper "Den".

Lubkivsky emphasized that Canada's presidency in the G7 is a unique opportunity to draw global attention to Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

"The Canadian government has all the capabilities to become an influential initiator of new efforts aimed at restoring peace and security in our region, defending international law through the examples of Ukraine and other countries that have been threatened by Russia, and upholding human rights in the occupied Ukrainian territories," Lubkivsky stated.

In his opinion, under Canada's leadership, a new international platform should be established to discuss the state of human rights in the Russian-occupied Crimea and the occupied parts of Donbas: "Regarding large-scale persecutions; political and national repressions; the oppression of Crimean Tatars, Ukrainians, and other national communities; suppression of freedom of speech, choice, and religion."

"The essence of this initiative is to attract global attention to the often little-known human sufferings caused by Russia's aggressive policies and its assault on the civilized world order," the article states.

Danilo Lubkivsky noted that this format of work would not contradict negotiation formats or methods of consolidated international pressure on Russia. On the contrary, he stressed that this approach "will help overcome the artificial separation of the issues of the occupation of Crimea and Donbas. The nature of the occupation is the same. The essence of human rights violations is the same. The aggressor is the same. And sooner or later, the aggressor must be held accountable for its crimes."

"In 2018, we desperately need mutual strong political will to truly move towards peace and security," Lubkivsky added.

Recall that Canada has taken over this role from Italy. The next G7 summit will be held in Kananasquis. 

Background. Earlier, Mind reported that the G7 leaders issued a statement supporting political changes in Syria.