Canada still plans to return five turbines used in the Russian “Nord Stream 1” gas pipeline to Germany, despite “Gazprom”ʼs refusal to accept one turbine.
This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly, CBC writes.
In July, the Canadian government authorized the shipment of six turbines that had undergone maintenance in Montreal back to Germany for further transfer to Russian state-owned “Gazprom”, which operates the “Nord Stream 1” pipeline, which supplies natural gas to Germany and other European countries. One turbine was returned to Germany after “Gazprom” refused to accept it, citing technical problems and saying it needed additional documents to prove the equipment was not subject to Western sanctions.
Despite “Gazprom”ʼs refusal, Joly stated that they would return the remaining five turbines.
"It was a decision we made. This is exactly what Germany asked us for," said Melanie Jolie.
Canada believes the Kremlin used its initial refusal to return the turbine to shift the blame for Europeʼs energy shortages onto anti-Russian sanctions. "Canada does not want to give Putin any excuse to use the flow of energy to Europe as a weapon," Jolie emphasized.
- Since June 16, “Gazprom” has reduced supplies of the “Nord Stream” gas pipeline to 40% of the nominal capacity, explaining this by the fact that Canada, due to sanctions, did not return the turbine needed for the gas pipeline. Canada made an exception to the sanctions against Russia, repaired the turbine and sent it to Germany, but Russia has not yet taken it back. Against this background, Russiaʼs “Gazprom” reduced gas supplies through “Nord Stream” to 20% of the pipeʼs capacity.