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Canada renews the sanctions it lifted to repair the Nord Stream gas pipeline turbines
The Government of Canada has indicated this Wednesday that it will revoke an exemption from the sanctions imposed on Russia that allowed the turbines of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline to be repaired in Montreal. The pipeline, which sent natural gas from Russia to Germany over the Baltic Sea, was destroyed by sabotage in September. Investigations carried out by Denmark and Sweden, in whose waters it was sabotaged, found signs of explosions, but did not name any possible perpetrators.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson have announced the decision, criticizing the position of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom they blame for never wanting the Nord Stream to return to its full operability”.
“Given that Putin has been forced to show that his intent was never to return Nord Stream 1 to full operation, and that the pipeline itself has been rendered inoperable, the Government of Canada has decided to revoke the limited-time sanctions waiver that was granted to allow turbines being repaired at Siemens’ Montreal facility to be returned to Germany,” reads a joint statement.
Canadian authorities have criticized that Moscow “sought to sow division (in the West) alleging that a turbine was needed for repair”, to blame Canada for the reduction in natural gas exports. “This summer, the Russian regime and its propaganda arm attempted to exploit the instability they had created with their illegal invasion of Ukraine to justify further destabilization of European energy security,” Joly and Wilkinson have accused.
Russia began in June to reduce the flow of gas reaching Germany through the Nord Stream. He claimed that he could not pump anymore because a turbine in a pumping station on Russian territory was damaged and had been sent to Canada for repair and that, due to the sanctions imposed, he could not recover it. Therefore, the Canadian government decided that exemption on sanctions and the turbine was sent to Germany. Russia later refused to receive it, again citing Western sanctions. Germany, and the entire West, denounced that these were mere excuses for not supplying gas to Europe.
In fact, with the excuse of a new review of the installation, he closed the tap on the Nord Stream permanently in August, alleging this time an oil leak. Siemens said that the alleged failure did not justify the closure.
Already in September, gas leaks were detected in the two pipes of Nord Stream 1 and one of Nord Stream 2, which surfaced on the surface of the Baltic Sea, in the waters of Denmark and Sweden. It was suspected, and confirmed after investigation, that the tubes were destroyed with explosives and that their repair was almost impossible. Russia first blamed the US, claiming it was the ultimate beneficiary, and then the UK. The West has always believed that Moscow was behind the sabotage that has rendered the main route of arrival of Russian gas to Europe useless.
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