(Ottawa) Now that Germany and Canada have seen that Vladimir Putin was “bluffing”, as the two countries have been arguing since Wednesday, it is time to revoke the permit which allows the import and export of five more turbines , implored the Ukrainian ambassador in Ottawa.
Posted at 1:31 p.m.
Updated at 5:33 p.m.
WHAT THERE IS TO KNOW
- Canada circumvented its sanctions against Russia on July 9 by allowing turbines destined for a Russian gas pipeline to be sent to Germany.
- The opposition parties in Ottawa have all denounced this privilege by the Trudeau government.
- The owner of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline claims that it cannot get its hands on the turbine, thus justifying the reduction in natural gas deliveries to Germany.
- “We could see that Putin was bluffing,” said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock while in Montreal.
- Ukraine continues to deplore the decision, a “dangerous precedent”, according to it.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s envoy to Canada, Yulia Kovaliv, began by distributing flowers to the elected members of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. She expressed her gratitude for the Trudeau government’s unwavering support for Ukraine. The pot soon followed.
Because the new argument from Ottawa and Berlin that the purpose of the decision to approve the sending of a turbine that was stuck in Montreal was to show that President Putin was “bluffing” and that the plan was scaffolded by Canada with the complicity of its allies, does not hold water, she believes.
“We already knew that. It’s good that the governments of Germany, Canada and the European Union have once again understood that Putin is bluffing, the ambassador said. The turbine has been in a factory in Germany for almost three weeks, and yesterday Gazprom made it very clear that it does not want it. »
“Then why would it be necessary to send the other five turbines? We must stop now and avoid giving Vladimir Putin the opportunity to continue to blackmail our European partners. […] This permit must be revoked,” insisted Yulia Kovaliv.
“Tactics” to counter misinformation
At his side, the German ambassador to Canada, Sabine Sparwasser, pleaded, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, had done before her, that we wanted to see if the Russian president would fall into the trap. that was handed to him allowing the turbine to start. It was a “tactic,” she said.
This drew the ire of Conservative Garnett Genuis, who criticized him for “regurgitating” the lines of communication from the Canadian government. “You seem to believe that the Germans are not capable of making sacrifices. I have a higher opinion of them, ”he told her in a long preamble without question.
He later said the Conservative Party unequivocally supports the Ukrainian ambassador’s request – a request also made by Ukrainian Canadian Congress President Alexandra Chyczij. In the NDP camp, MP Heather McPherson agrees.
“He already knew the bluff was there. So now what we’ve done is we’ve weakened our sanctions regime, we’ve weakened Canada’s position in support of Ukraine, and at the same time we haven’t helped Germany to get energy, ”listed the chosen one.
What exactly did Berlin gain, since deliveries of natural gas to Germany through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline fell by 20% even though the company could take possession of the turbine? “We would have lost the disinformation war. The turbine is there, that’s clear,” said Ambassador Sparwasser.
If Mélanie Joly before her had not committed to revoking the permit for a period of two years, the diplomat for her part did not close the door to this possibility. “We will discuss this in the near future. There are future steps to consider,” she said.
On Wednesday, on its Twitter account, the Gazprom company reiterated that it could not take possession of the turbine that was sent to Germany from the Montreal facilities of Siemens, where it was being repaired.
The sanctions regimes imposed by Canada, the European Union and the United Kingdom, as well as the disparities between the current situation and Siemens’ existing contractual obligations, make it impossible to bring in the 073 turbine. at the Portovaïa compressor station.
Gazprom, Russian oil company, on Twitter
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz makes no secret of his interest in collaborating on liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in Canada to refuel at home. He is due to visit Prime Minister Justin Trudeau later this month to discuss possible commercial energy deals.
Ukrainian employees left to fend for themselves?
Another issue came to the committee table during Thursday’s long meeting: an article that appeared on Wednesday in the Globe and Mail temporarily eclipsed the issue that was to be the main theme of the hearings.
According to what the daily reported, Global Affairs Canada had been informed that Russia was about to invade Ukraine and that the Ukrainians who worked for the Canadian embassy were probably on lists of people that Moscow had l intent to stalk.
As she did on Wednesday, Minister Joly insisted that she had received no information on the dangers that could have awaited Ukrainians employed by the embassy. The latter were offered “different possibilities to immigrate to Canada if they decided to leave Ukraine”, she then wrote on Twitter.
“I understand that Canadians want to shed some light on this matter. Me too,” she said.