The Canadian Foreign Ministry summoned Russian Ambassador to Ottawa Oleg Stepanov because of a statement by the Russian diplomatic mission about the Holodomor in Ukraine, TASS reports.

According to the diplomat, Director General of European Affairs Michael Bonser invited him to "make a demarche, convey the Canadian position of disagreement" with the press release of the diplomatic mission on the Holodomor, which was distributed last week.

Stepanov pointed out that he, in turn, conveyed to the Canadian diplomat the Russian position regarding the Holodomor, which in the 1930s was not only on the territory of the Ukrainian SSR, but also in other republics of the Soviet Union, including Russia.

He also said that Canada continues to defend the position of the Ukrainian community in this country, which, among other things, accuses Russia of organizing the Holodomor only in Ukraine. Stepanov noted that there is a "total inhuman denial of historical facts", so the Russian side will continue "to convey the historical truth in Canada, whether someone likes it or not."

Last week, the Russian embassy in Ottawa said that the Canadian government continues to believe in disinformation about a targeted famine against Ukrainians, without bothering to check historical facts.

In 1932-1933, the main grain regions of the USSR were engulfed in famine. As a result of the food crisis in the country, according to various estimates, from 7 million to 8 million people of various nationalities died. There are no exact data on the number of deaths from starvation in the Ukrainian SSR. According to modern demographers, the probable level of excess mortality for the Ukrainian SSR in 1933 ranged from 2.2 million to 3.9 million people.