Canada will return to Germany five turbines of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline that Gazprom refuses to recover

MADRID, 25 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Canadian Foreign Minister, Mélanie Joly, has announced that they plan to return five Nord Stream 1 turbines to Germany, which were sent for maintenance and despite the fact that the Russian company that operates the gas pipeline, Gazprom, already refused at the end July to retrieve another that had been repaired.

Last July, the Canadian government granted an exemption to Siemens Canada so that it could send back to Germany these six turbines that were in Montreal for maintenance before the war in Ukraine began on February 24.

However, Gazprom, the company in charge of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that supplies natural gas to Germany and other European countries, refused to accept the former, citing technical problems and lack of information showing that it was not subject to Western sanctions for the invasion. Ukrainian Russian.

Despite Gazprom's denial, Joly told the Canadian network CBC that this is the decision taken by the Ottawa government in response to a demand from Germany. "That's exactly what they've asked us to do," he said.

For his part, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who has been in Canada this week agreeing with the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, the supply of hydrogen fuel from 2025, has also said on CBC in relation to the matter of the turbines that Ottawa and Berlin will continue to "cooperate".

From Ukraine they have criticized Canada for accepting Germany's request to exempt Siemens Canada from sanctions so that they could return these turbines, as it could be seen by Russia as a gesture of "weakness".

However, Canada maintains that the move is necessary not only to secure gas supplies to Germany, but also so as not to give Russia reason to blame sanctions for energy shortages in Europe.