Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development

Comité permanent des affaires étrangères et du développement international

For immediate release

Ottawa, May 04, 2021 -

On 22 April 2021, the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (the committee) met in private in an in camera meeting with an individual purporting to be a spokesperson for Alexei Navalny in order to discuss the ongoing and serious situation of the imprisoned Russian opposition leader.

Shortly after the meeting began, however, it became clear that the individual was misrepresenting himself, and the committee promptly suspended – and then terminated – the meeting to investigate further. It has come to the committee’s attention that similar incidents have taken place with parliamentarians in Europe.

The committee condemns these repeated attempts aimed at misleading parliamentarians on a very serious situation. As the Russian authorities continue to arrest and harass those protesting Mr. Navalny’s arbitrary detention, this incident has only made the committee more determined to be fully and properly briefed on the situation as soon as possible. To this end, the committee has requested to meet with Mr. Leonid Volkov, Chief of Staff to Mr. Navalny. This meeting will take place on Thursday, May 6, 2021.