MONTREAL – Demonstrators in Montreal gathered outside the French consulate over Monday’s lunch hour.
They want France to cancel its training of 400 Russian sailors, who started training in France last month.
They also want the French government not to sell two mistral warships to Vladimir Putin.
Demonstrators say the mistral warships France is building are modern, state of the art and would give Russia too much power in the region.
The warships would allow the navy to drop a battalion of marines and armor any coastline with in 10,000 kilometers of its home port without refueling, provide helicopter support for those forces, and orchestrate an entire operation from the ship’s advanced control centre.
Ukrainian Canadians are calling on France to remember its own struggles for freedom and democracy, especially on Bastille Day.
“These warships are created for amphibious assault,” explains Ukrainian-Canadian Peter Sheremeta. “They can carry warships, tanks and Russia’s not getting them to put on a parade. We’re worried about their intentions to expand their invasion of Ukraine and to other countries.”
So far France has not bowed to pressure from the United States and its European allies and the $1.6 billion contract is still in effect.
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