Domestic Russian human rights violations are on the rise and the assassination of opposition politicians and human rights activists has become common. Russian relations with the West haven’t been worse at any other time since the fall of the Soviet Union. Since that infamous “reset” button photo-op, Vladimir Putin has invaded Ukraine and annexed a significant portion of its territory. Vladimir Putin had invaded Georgia the summer before and relations between the two super powers were at a post-Soviet low. If Justin Trudeau wishes to place human rights at the centre of Canada’s foreign policy, then he’ll have to do much better than this.

Source: thestar May 26, 2016 04:26 UTC