Baird Promotes International Response to

Ukraine Crisis in Czech Republic

April 22, 2014 – Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird paid his first bilateral visit to the Czech Republic today to promote a common international response to Russia’s acts of aggression in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

“Canada strongly condemns those provocateurs who are formenting unrest in eastern and southern Ukraine,” said Baird. “Canada calls on Russia to follow through on its Geneva commitments to de-escalate the crisis, to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and to cease its interference in a sovereign state.”

During Baird’s visit to the Czech Republic, he met with both Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek, and exchanged views on the situation in Ukraine. Canada is pleased to work with its allies in supporting democracy in the region.

“Canada congratulates the Czech Republic on its efforts to stabilize the crisis in the region and on its contributions to the Visegrd Group,” said Baird.

This is the Minister’s fourth visit to the region in recent months since the start of the crisis in Ukraine. Canada and the Czech Republic are like-minded partners multilaterally, collaborating within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and other multilateral fora.

Baird will also visit other NATO allies, including Slovakia, Poland, Latvia and Estonia, to discuss the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.