The Government of Canada has indicated Wednesday that it will revoke a sanctions waiver that allowed Nord Stream 1 turbines to be repaired in Montreal.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson announced the decision, criticizing the position of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom they blame for not wanting «to ever get Nord Stream back to full operation».
«Given that Putin has been forced to demonstrate that his intention was never to return Nordstream 1 to full operation, and that the pipeline itself has been rendered inoperable, the Government of Canada has decided to revoke the time-limited sanctions waiver that was granted to allow the turbines being repaired at Siemens’ Montreal facility to be returned to Germany,» reads a joint statement.
Canadian officials have criticized that Moscow «sought to sow this division (in the West) by claiming that a turbine was needed under repair» by attempting to blame Canada for the reduction in natural gas exports.
«This summer, the Russian regime and its propaganda arm sought 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 charged.
«In doing so, President Putin hoped to sow division among allies, who had demonstrated and continue to show unprecedented unity in support of Ukraine,» they have added.