Trudeau calls Putin a “weakling” for executing Navalny, other opponents
Justin Trudeau wrapped up a surprise trip to war-torn Ukraine with a blistering attack on Vladimir Putin Saturday, calling the Russian leader a “weakling” who uses police and the military to crush his opposition.
Speaking with reporters at the end of his visit to the capital Kiyv, Trudeau accused Putin of “executing” opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died unexpectedly a week ago in the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence.
Navalny, 47, was roundly considered Putin’s greatest political foe. The Kremlin has rejected allegations that Putin was involved in Navalny’s death, calling them “absolutely unfounded, insolent accusations about the head of the Russian state.”
“I think we know, we’ve seen, repeatedly, the extent to which any opposition in Russia is either marginalized or, quite frankly, executed,” Trudeau said Saturday.
“What happened to Alexei Navalny demonstrates that for all that Putin pretends to be strong, he’s actually a coward,” he continued.
“To execute one’s political opponents, to quash dissent by using police and military, to make sure there is no opposition is the mark of a weakling, not a mark of someone who is confident in his own position.”
Trudeau signed a new security agreement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as world leaders gathered in the capital Kyiv.
The agreement is aimed at fortifying both the Ukrainian military and the country’s struggling economy.
It includes some $320 million in new military spending, which is due by the end of the year, and $2.4 billion in loans for Ukraine, to be administered through the International Monetary Fund.
“War isn’t just experienced on the battlefield, it’s lived every day, by everyday people,” Trudeau said of the loans at
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