Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau spoke with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, at the Arctic Council Ministerial meeting on Thursday.

“Minister Garneau reiterated that Canada firmly supports the work of the Arctic Council and will continue to work with all Arctic states and Indigenous Permanent Participants to advance sustainable economic, social and cultural development as well as environmental protection initiatives important to Northern Peoples and communities in the circumpolar Arctic region.

Minister Garneau reiterated Canada’s unequivocal condemnation of Russia’s illegal invasion and annexation of Crimea and expressed Canada’s concern over Russia’s recent destabilizing actions in and around Ukraine,” the government of Canada said in a statement.

“Finally, Minister Garneau and Minister Lavrov discussed the developments in Nagorno-Karabakh. Minister Garneau reiterated that Canada continues to call on Armenia and Azerbaijan to ease tensions and expresses its hope that the parties can engage in meaningful action, including accelerating the release of detainees and the remains of the deceased, the investigation and prosecution of all alleged war crimes and cooperation on demining, and that we will continue to support the primary role of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in reaching a permanent settlement of this conflict,” the statement said.