More than a hundred demonstrators gathered under a blazing sun on Sunday afternoon in Square Phillips, in Montreal, to protest against the decision of the Canadian government to send turbines which will allow Germany to receive Russian gas .
“It creates a precedent, deplores Yevgen Kravchenko, met on the spot. This means that Canada could withdraw other sanctions in the future. Next to him is his sister, who arrived from Ukraine on Thursday. She speaks neither English nor French and left everything in her country of origin, including her husband. “He stayed, the economy needs to keep working there,” Yevgen says, raising his voice to make himself heard despite the songs in Ukrainian blaring at full volume.
“Many countries say they support Ukraine, but it’s just on the surface,” condemns Eleonora, a young woman of Ukrainian origin who has family in the country.
A few speakers followed one another in front of the crowd where several Ukrainian flags could be seen. “When you hear about the economy, think of the tens of thousands of Ukrainian families who no longer have a home,” said the president of the Quebec branch of the Canadian-Ukrainian council, Michael Schwec. The speeches ended with the broadcast of the Ukrainian national anthem on the loudspeakers, which the dozens of people present sang with emotion.
At the center of the debate, the turbines are currently in a Montreal warehouse of the German company Siemens. Due to sanctions imposed by Canada, these could not be sent. But they will be the subject of an exception, announced the Canadian government, because they are considered essential to the operation of the Nordstream pipeline of the Russian company Gazprom, which supplies Germany with gas.
Ulcerated by the sending of the turbines, the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, must meet the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, to discuss it by videoconference on Sunday afternoon.