Sanctions against Gazprom | Sending six turbines to Germany decried

(Ottawa, Montreal) Ukraine deplores the “dangerous precedent” set by Canada’s decision to allow Siemens to send six turbines stuck in Montreal to Germany – a breach by Ottawa of its own sanctions regime against Moscow. Canadian-Ukrainians are also angry, and they expressed it in Montreal, where dozens of them gathered in front of the offices of Siemens.

Melanie Marquis
The Press

Vincent Larin
The Press

In a lengthy statement released on Sunday, Kyiv expressed “deep disappointment” with Ottawa’s announcement on Saturday that half a dozen turbines for Russia’s Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline can be shipped to Germany.

“This dangerous precedent violates international solidarity, goes against the principle of the rule of law and will have only one consequence: it will reinforce Moscow’s feeling of impunity”, regretted the Ukrainian foreign ministries and Energy.

Especially since “Russia is able to continue to supply gas to Germany in its entirety” even in the absence of the documents, and its request was nothing other than “blackmail without technical justification”, have they added.

Ukraine had urged Ottawa not to accede to Berlin’s request, but the balance finally tipped in favor of Germany: Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, Jonathan Wilkinson, granted a “revocable permit and limited time” for the routing of the turbines.

We had until now always spoken of turbine in the singular, but in fact, there is more than one. “The permit covers until the turbines are returned as required. There are six turbines in total that require scheduled maintenance,” the minister’s press secretary, Keean Nembhard, said on Sunday.

Once the equipment arrives in Germany, Siemens Energy will ship it to Russia “as soon as possible”. He will have to obtain an additional derogation, this time from European Union sanctions, for this shipment to Russian territory.

The angry Canadian-Ukrainian community

The Canadian-Ukrainian community had been imploring the Trudeau government for weeks not to bend.

And on Sunday, opponents of sending the turbines staged protests in Montreal and Ottawa. On the Montreal side, we gathered in front of the city hall and in front of the Siemens Canada facilities, chemin de la Côte-de-Liesse.

“Canada, on April 27, adopted a resolution in the House of Commons that Russia is committing genocide in Ukraine,” recalled the honorary consul of Ukraine in Montreal, Eugène Czolij, alongside a crowd. dozens of Canadian-Ukrainians gathered at the edge of a highway exit.

” [Le Canada] must therefore do everything possible and impossible to prevent such exemptions and not give in to Russian blackmail,” he said.

At his side, the president of the Quebec section of the Congress of Ukrainian Canadians, Michael Swech, recalled that many Ukrainians perceive Canada as “the biggest ally” of their country, hence their disappointment with this decision of the Trudeau government. .

“It makes no sense, it undoes everything they’ve done [jusqu’ici] “, deplores Mr. Swech, recalling that Russia would use the money earned thanks to this equipment “to buy weapons and bombs”.

Coming to demonstrate her opposition to Canada’s decision, Nadia Vakhranova is worried about the fate of her parents, still in Ukraine. “Every day, I wonder if they are still alive”, she breathed between two horns of encouragement launched by cars passing in front of the troop.

The Conservatives castigate the Liberals

The Conservative Party criticized the pass to the sanctions regime against the Kremlin, and took the opportunity to reiterate that the solution to the energy disruption caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine lies in the construction of infrastructure on Canadian soil.

“Instead of ignoring global sanctions designed to punish Putin, the Liberal government should approve new pipelines and liquefied natural gas terminals so that Canadian natural gas can replace Russian energy supplies in Europe,” a trio said. of preservatives.

“Allow the return [des turbines] gas strike creates a dangerous precedent by bending to Putin’s blackmail on Europe, and will have a negative impact on Canada’s position on the world stage,” continued MPs Pierre Paul-Hus, Michael Chong and James Bezan.

The owner of the 1,200 kilometer pipeline linking Russia and Germany, Gazprom, is on Canada’s list of companies targeted by economic sanctions. The company argued that in the absence of the equipment taken from Montreal, a reduction in volume would be inevitable. This argument is disputed.