Turbine Affairs: Canadian Ambassador to Kyiv Summoned | War in Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
Canada's ambassador to Ukraine was summoned to kyiv on Monday following Canada's “unacceptable” return to Germany of turbines for Russia's Nord Stream gas pipeline, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had to summon Canada's envoy to our country due to an absolutely unacceptable exception to the sanctions regime against Russia, said Mr. Zelensky in his daily message on Telegram.
According to Mr. Zelensky, this decision will be perceived in Moscow only as a sign of weakness.
There is no doubt that Russia will try not only to limit as much as possible, but also to #x27;Completely shutting off gas supplies to Europe at the most acute moment, he added.
Over the weekend, Canada agreed to deliver turbines needed to service the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline to Germany, despite sanctions in place against Russia and calls from the US. Ukraine.
The turbines were undergoing maintenance at a Canadian facility owned by German group Siemens, and Russia blamed their absence for reduced deliveries by the gas pipeline.
On Monday, Russian energy giant Gazprom began ten days of maintenance on the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline. Germany and other European countries are waiting to see if gas delivery will be restored.< /p>
The German government had been in intensive contact with Ottawa for several weeks to obtain the return of the equipment in question to Europe.
Germany, fearing that Moscow would soon completely cut off gas flows, had offered Canada to take back the turbines in order to stay within legal limits, rather than handing them over to the Russia.
Berlin does not believe in the technical reason invoked by Gazprom to explain the fall in gas deliveries, but considers that the return of the turbines will deprive Russia of a pretext to extend this closing of the gas tap, which could degenerate into a major energy crisis.
The Ukrai does not ensure for its part that the Ukrainian gas pipelines are able to transport a sufficient volume of gas to Germany to compensate for the drop in Russian deliveries.
