Carney says he will not boycott APEC 'family photo' with Putin

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Prime Minister Mark Carney says he will participate in an upcoming group photo with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the APEC summit out of respect for the host, Chinese…

Prime Minister Mark Carney says he will participate in an upcoming group photo with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the APEC summit out of respect for the host, Chinese President Xi Jinping.

"Yes, I will participate in the photo out of respect for the host. We’re in Asia," Carney said, speaking in Manila, the Philippine capital, which is one stop on his overseas multi-country tour.

The photo will be taken at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen next week. U.S. President Donald Trump is also expected to attend.

With war in Ukraine continuing and the casualties mounting following Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, Carney was asked why appearing in the photo is the right move. He said Canada's repudiation of Russia is demonstrated through its broader sanctions policy, not from boycotting the photo.

He pointed to the federal government's recent announcement that it will take steps to prevent Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from entering Canada for next month's world junior hockey championship in Alberta.

"Canada stands firmly with Ukraine, firmly with democracy, territorial integrity, rule of law — and all of those put us on the other side of Vladimir Putin's Russia," Carney said.

Faced with a similar decision at last month's G20 ministerial meeting in Atlanta, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said she would opt out of taking part in a group photo with her Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.

Then-prime minister Justin Trudeau, centre, and other world leaders wave during the family photo at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, in June 2019. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

The "family photos" are traditional diplomatic protocol at world summits.

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