Can a letter from the Russian Ambassador be admitted under section 518(1)(e) of the Criminal Code?

In United States of America v. Ivanov,[7] Mercer J. used section 518(1)(e) of the Criminal Code to admit a letter from the Russian Ambassador only when it was entered during the testimony of the accused in order to state the response he had received from the Ambassador. Counsel for the Attorney General had objected to this evidence observing that he could not effectively cross-examine the accused on the contents of the Ambassador's letter. The court noted that there was no dispute respecting the authenticity of the Ambassador's letter, which suggests that the court did not admit the letter for the truth of its contents, only that it was authentic, i.e., a response received by the applicant from the Ambassador. If that was not the case then I must respectfully disagree with the conclusion reached.