Russian ambassador summoned to Canadian Foreign Ministry over ‘LGBT propaganda ban’ tweets

Oleg Stepanov, Russia’s ambassador to Canada, has been summoned to the country’s Foreign Ministry, RIA Novosti says. As Stepanov told the news outlet, the Canadian authorities expressed their concern about the new law in Russia which bans “LGBT propaganda”.

“Deputy Minister Sandra McCardel invited me to express the Government of Canada’s concern about our legislative initiatives to save the younger generation from non-traditional propaganda. They believe our initiative goes against universal human rights,” Stepanov said.

McCardel has also expressed “disagreement and concern in connection with posts made on the embassy’s social media, defending traditional values,” Stepanov says.

Russia’s embassy in Canada posted an image of an overscored rainbow flag recently, captioning the image with “It is all about family. Family is a man and a woman and children.” The Tweet was heavily criticised by Pascale St-Onge, Canada’s Minister of Sport. The embassy later published 12 more posts regarding the new law.

Stepanov called the actions of the Canadian Foreign Ministry “interference in the internal affairs of Russia” and an attempt to “influence the independent legislative process in a sovereign state.”

“We expect that they do not interfere with our internal affairs, in our customs, historical canons and values. We do not want them to create an unnecessary burden and irritant in our bilateral relations caused by the so-called “LGBT agenda,” the ambassador said.

Russia’s State Duma (lower house of Parliament) passed a bill banning “propaganda of non-traditional relations” and “propaganda of gender changes and paedophilia” in the third — final — reading on 24 November. The decision was unanimous.

The document proposes to ban propaganda of “non-traditional sexual relations”, paedophilia, and gender changes on the Internet as well as in media, books, movies, and commercials / advertisements. Additionally, according to the law, foreign citizens could be expelled from Russia for LGBT propaganda.