TORONTO — Canada said Saturday that it will export a sanctioned Russian gas turbine back to Germany in a decision poised to upset Ukraine, which pressed Ottawa not to skirt the sanctions it has levied on Moscow.
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The turbine, built in Canada by Germany’s Siemens Energy, helps pump gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which runs from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea.
The equipment was being repaired in Montreal when it became stranded because of restrictions that Canada imposed on Russian industry after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled gas company, cited the missing turbine when it cut flows to Europe last month.
Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s natural resources minister, said in a statement Saturday that the country will grant a “time-limited and revocable” permit to Siemens Canada to return the repaired turbine to Germany.
“Absent a necessary supply of natural gas, the German economy will suffer very significant hardship,” he said, “and Germans themselves will be at risk of being unable to heat their homes as winter approaches.”
Debate over the turbine saw Canada caught between two allies: Germany, which pushed it to return the turbine so it could stockpile gas before winter amid fears of energy rationing, and Ukraine. Germany has also been looking to Canada as a potential energy source as it weans itself off Russian energy.
Canada is home to the world’s second-largest Ukrainian diaspora community.
Alexandra Chyczij, national president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said she was “deeply disappointed” by Canada’s “decision to bow to Russian blackmail” and “energy terrorism.”
“In acceding to Germany’s request, Canada will not only contravene its policy of isolating Russia,” she said in a statement. “It will set a dangerous precedent that will lead to the weakening of the sanctions regime imposed on Russia.”
Canada has imposed sanctions on more than 1,150 Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. It said Saturday that it would expand existing sanctions on Russia’s oil and gas sector to industrial manufacturing, including land and pipeline transport.
Source: WP
