Germany Warns Canada It May Have To Cut Aid To Ukraine Unless Montreal Pipeline Turbine Blocked

Germany’s foreign minister said Berlin warned Ottawa it could be forced to suspend military and economic aid to Ukraine if a Russian gas pipeline turbine blocked in Montreal as a result of Canadian economic sanctions is not returned. Annalena Baerbock said the German government told Canada if the missing wind turbine led to a gas cut from Russia, it could spark popular uprisings and force Berlin to end aid to Ukraine. The Ukrainian government is heavily dependent on Western aid as it faces a military offensive by Russia that began in late February. Speaking to RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND), a German media outlet, on Wednesday, Ms. Baerbock said domestic political implications played an important role in the negotiations with Canada. The Trudeau government agreed to release the turbine earlier this month and even allow the import, repair and export of up to five more turbines for Nord Stream 1, a pipeline that delivers natural gas to Germany and is majority owned by Gazprom, a Russian state. – controlled company. “The Canadians said, ‘We’ve got a lot of questions,’ and we said, ‘We can figure that out, but if we don’t get the gas turbine, then we’re not going to get any more natural gas, and then we’ll figure it out.’ We cannot provide any support to Ukraine, because we will be busy with popular uprisings,” the foreign minister told RND. He was pressed by the RND on whether he really expected unrest to follow. The foreign secretary said that was “perhaps a bit of an exaggeration”, but said she was talking about a scenario where “we had no more natural gas”. Ms. Baerbock underscored her comments by saying, “That’s exactly my point: that we’re going to continue to need gas from Russia.” Russia last month cited the delayed return of turbine equipment, which Germany’s Siemens Energy was servicing in Canada, as the reason behind its decision to reduce the flow of natural gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. 40 percent of capacity. Ukraine’s government then condemned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to repair and export Russian turbines, warning it would undermine the united front on sanctions Western countries had assembled to pressure Moscow. Ihor Michalchyshyn, CEO and executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said Germany allowed Russian energy to be held hostage and Canada should never have succumbed to the Kremlin’s blackmail scheme. “Now Ukrainians are paying the price as Germany finances Russia’s genocide against Ukraine by buying Russian energy exports,” Mr Michalchyshyn said. “There is no excuse for this. nor is there any justification for the Canadian government giving in to Russian blackmail and waiving sanctions. The sanctions relief granted by Canada emboldens Russia and Russian demands, and pressure will inevitably increase as a result.” Separately, on Thursday, the first turbine shipped to Russia from Canada was reportedly stuck in transit because Russia has so far not given the go-ahead to bring it back, two people familiar with the matter said. The turbine, which normally operates at Russia’s Portovaya compressor station, was transported back to Cologne, Germany, on July 17 by logistics company Challenge Group, one of the people said. It is currently unclear when the turbine might be returned, the people said, adding that it could take days or even weeks. The transfer back to Germany followed weeks of deliberations between Berlin and the Canadian government over whether such a move would violate Western sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Russia reopened the Nord Stream 1 pipeline on Thursday after a ten-day planned maintenance shutdown, but it was still running at reduced capacity. Russia said the turbine’s return had an immediate impact on the pipeline’s safe operation, adding that Siemens Energy’s documentation needed to reinstall it was still missing. One of the sources said Moscow has so far not provided the documents needed to import the turbine into Russia, including details of exactly where it will be delivered and through which customs station. “Under normal circumstances, turbine maintenance is a routine operation for us,” Siemens Energy said in a statement. “Of course, we want to get the turbine to its place of operation as quickly as possible. However, the time it takes is not entirely within our control.” German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said of the turbine on Thursday: “Sometimes one gets the impression that Russia no longer wants to take it back. “This means that the pretext of technical problems actually has a political background and that is the opposite of being a guarantor of energy security in Europe.” Fen Hamson, Chancellor’s Professor at Carleton University, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in a difficult position when he gave Gazprom sanctions relief over Ukraine’s strong objections. He said Mr. Trudeau was doing it to maintain unity within the NATO alliance under pressure from Germany and the United States. “The alliance is in danger of splitting and finances and pocketbook issues always take precedence over foreign policy,” he said. “The Germans are not doing this out of love for the Russians. They do so because they would face enormous domestic difficulties if Putin chose to cut off natural gas, which I think he is quite ready to do. This guy is a master of hardball.” NDP foreign relations critic Heather McPherson said it makes no sense for Canada to trust that repairing and exporting turbines would make a difference to Russia’s gas supply to Germany. “I never understood why we trusted Putin’s word for it. He feels that Canada is overstepping Putin.” With files from Reuters

title: “Germany Warns Canada It May Have To Cut Aid To Ukraine Unless Montreal Pipeline Turbine Blocked " ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-23” author: “Jeff Hale”