Lady says Russian embassy in Canada denying her entry to consular companies – Nationwide | Globalnews.ca

A Russian girl says she has been denied consular companies by her nation’s embassy in Canada over claims her Fb exercise poses a safety menace.

“It completely got here as a shock to me,” mentioned Elena Pushkareva, who left Russia a decade in the past.

Pushkareva mentioned the Russian Embassy, which declined to remark to The Canadian Press, denied her entry to its consular service in Ottawa, the place she had an appointment to replace her youngsters’s paperwork.

Pushkareva left Russia a decade in the past for political causes. She lives in Ottawa and had visited the consular workplace earlier than, as not too long ago as Dec. 28, and booked an appointment in January to course of paperwork.

A couple of hours forward of the appointment, she mentioned, she received a cellphone name from a person who recognized himself as a Russian consular officer in Ottawa, however refused to provide his title.

“They known as me that morning, telling me there was no want to come back, that they won’t present me with the service, and that was the non-public resolution made by the ambassador,” she mentioned.

“I don’t perceive why they determined to name me first, why it was so vital for them that I don’t even come.”

Pushkareva mentioned the official mentioned Ambassador Oleg Stepanov cancelled the appointment as a result of she posed a security danger to the constructing, by advantage of being a part of a Fb group.

The group in query advocates for liberating jailed Russian opposition chief Alexey Navalny, which Pushkareva mentioned is for individuals who really feel Russia shouldn’t jail individuals for his or her political beliefs, no matter whether or not they help Navalny.

She mentioned the person on the cellphone mentioned that if Pushkareva didn’t consider him, she might present up on the consulate and be informed the identical factor, which is what she mentioned occurred. The consulate sits in a constructing down the road from the embassy.

She mentioned she recorded the Jan. 18 change. Within the audio recording, an unnamed official tells her that being a part of a particular Fb web page has led the ambassador to verbally ask employees to disclaim her entry to the consulate.

The official says in Russian that the Fb web page included “data with requires violent actions, to the detriment of the pursuits of the Russian Federation. Because of this, you’re denied admission to the consular division.”

Within the recording, Pushkareva asks what precisely on Fb amounted to a menace, however the consulate offers no instance.

As an alternative, the official mentioned she might write a letter to the ambassador, which she has carried out.

“With this resolution you may have gone past the authorized framework of our nation,” her letter reads in Russian, accusing the consulate of violating Russia’s structure by depriving her of consular entry and never offering a written cause.

“I’ve used the companies of consular departments in Canada many occasions, and not one of the events had any issues by way of safety,” she wrote.

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Pushkareva famous that the consulate employees appeared to call a public Fb web page and conflated it with a personal Fb group with the same title. Pushkareva has visited each, however mentioned she will not be answerable for what’s posted there. She additionally mentioned she has not seen violence being advocated on both web site.

She additionally famous that Fb is meant to delete content material deemed to be threatening violence, if moderators don’t accomplish that first.

The embassy declined to remark, however the Novaya Gazeta information web site mentioned a consulate official insisted Pushkareva had not been denied companies, solely entry to the consulate constructing. But the official didn’t specify how Pushkareva may very well be helped with out coming into the constructing, which they known as an establishment with safety measures.

“When you don’t deny me the service, possibly you’ll present me with the service or on the road? Possibly they’ll carry out a desk? So anyway, I took one other appointment. I’ll comply with on, as a result of it’s form of attention-grabbing,” she mentioned with amusing.

She mentioned she went public together with her story out of a way that protecting quiet wouldn’t assist resolve the scenario.

But Pushkareva is nervous that being barred from the consulate will later stop her from getting her youngsters’s Russian passports updated. The considered them not with the ability to go to family members is “very painful,” however journey appears unimaginable within the close to time period.

“There usually are not that many individuals right here, who usually are not afraid to go communicate in public,” she mentioned.

“With each scenario like my case, it’s actually frightens individuals.”

Pushkareva mentioned she left Russia in 2013 out of considerations the nation was more and more much less democratic. Nonetheless, she was shocked by Moscow’s resolution a yr in the past to invade Ukraine, which she has protested in Ottawa.

“My private feeling was that it was getting worse, and now it’s so unhappy to witness that it’s getting a lot worse,” she mentioned.

“It’s vital that Canadians know that we exist, that there are Russians who’ve a unique opinion from the opinion of (President) Vladimir Putin and the Russian authorities.”

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