Canada decided on Saturday to return turbines destined for Russia’s Nord Stream gas pipeline to Germany to ease the energy crisis with Russia, despite pleas from Ukraine not to “submit to Kremlin blackmail”.
Ukraine had urged Canada not to return the turbines that are currently in Siemens group workshops near Montreal.
The Russian gas group Gazprom had invoked this work to justify in mid-June a reduction in its deliveries to Germany via the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
“Canada will grant Siemens Canada a revocable, time-limited permit to allow repaired Nordstream 1 turbines to return to Germany, supporting Europe’s ability to access reliable and affordable energy,” said the Minister. Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.
“Without a necessary supply of natural gas, the German economy will suffer very significant difficulties and Germans themselves may not be able to heat their homes as winter approaches,” he said. he explained, in a press release.
The Canadian minister also accused President Putin of wanting to “sow division among the allies”.
The German government had been for several weeks “in intensive contact” with Ottawa to obtain the return of this equipment to Europe despite the sanctions imposed on Russia.
Germany, for fear that Moscow would soon completely cut off gas flows, had offered Canada to recover the turbines in order to stay in the nails “on the legal level”, rather than deliver them to Russia.
Berlin did not believe in the technical reason invoked by Gazprom to explain the drop in gas deliveries, but considered that the return of the turbines would deprive Russia of a pretext to extend this closure of the gas tap, which could degenerate into a major energy crisis.
Ukraine believed that the Ukrainian gas pipelines were capable of transporting a sufficient volume of gas to Germany to compensate for the drop in Russian deliveries.
“We must not submit to the blackmail of the Kremlin,” argued Thursday Serguiï Makogon, boss of the gas transport operator OGTSU.
In addition, Canada on Saturday announced its intention to extend its economic sanctions against Russia to industrial manufacturing.
“The new sanctions will apply to land and pipeline transport as well as to the manufacture of metals and transport, computer, electronic and electrical equipment, as well as machinery,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly.