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KYIV, Ukraine — Stephen Harper met with the new Ukrainian prime minister on Saturday, becoming the first G7 leader to visit Ukraine since pro-Western forces drove out its former government and Russia annexed the strategic Crimea Peninsula in the country’s southern reaches.

Harper, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Justice Minister Peter MacKay sat down with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in the midst of the most serious crisis in eastern Europe since the Cold War.

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Yatsenyuk effusively thanked Harper for his visit to the Cabinet of Ministers government building, while the prime minister, flanked by Baird and MacKay, assured him of Canada’s continued support.

Harper pointed out that Canada had long been a passionate supporter of Ukraine since the dismantling of the former Soviet Union. During their tete-a-tete, he also gave Yatsenyuk the Ukrainian flag that flew on Parliament Hill during part of the uprising.