OREANDA-NEWS. Canadian Foreign Minister Hristia Freeland quoted the words of Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Toronto conference on reforms in Ukraine on Tuesday that the modern liberal idea had outlived itself. “I want to begin my speech with a quote from a person whose statements you do not expect to hear here. And this is President Vladimir Putin. On the eve of the G20 summit, he gave an interview to the Financial Times newspaper, where he said that “the liberal idea has outlived itself”. the national holiday is Canada Day, and I hope you will forgive me for being too patriotic, but the truth is that no other country has criticized Putin’s statement so sharply as Canada”, Freeland said.

According to her, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "upholds the principles of liberal democracy both domestically and around the world". “Supporting democracies and the world order is the basis of Canada’s foreign policy”, the foreign minister said. Her speech was broadcast on Twitter by the foreign ministry. In an interview with the American media published last week, the Russian leader said that the modern liberal idea “has simply become obsolete itself”, prompting active discussions on this issue among Western media and politicians. As Putin noted, “Western partners admitted that some of elements are simply unrealistic”, including multiculturalism. As an example, the President of the Russian Federation cited the crisis with migrants in Europe.

A spokesman for the Russian president, Dmitri Peskov, explained that "Putin is close to the ideas of liberalism, but he is far from believing everyone else is mistaken in his views". The third reform conference in Ukraine is held in Toronto from July 2-4 with the participation of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Western politicians and experts.