QUEBEC: Canada yesterday said it would revoke a sanctions waiver that allowed turbines for Nord Stream 1, Russia’s biggest gas pipeline to Europe, to be repaired in Montreal and returned to Germany.
The pipeline under the Baltic Sea was shut down for repairs on Aug 31, but never restarted and in later September suffered major leaks.
European governments suspect the ruptures of the pipeline and another called Nord Stream 2 were caused by sabotage. President Vladimir Putin has called Western claims that Russia was behind explosions as “crazy” and Moscow has blamed the West.
“Putin has been forced to show that his intention was never to return Nord Stream 1 to full operation, and that the pipeline itself has been rendered inoperable,” foreign minister Melanie Joly and natural resources minister Jonathan Wilkinson said in a joint statement.
The decision was made after working closely with Ukraine, Germany, and other European allies, they said.
Trudeau had discussed with German chancellor Olaf Scholz “Europe’s energy security, in particular related to critical supply chains” on Tuesday, according to a readout from Trudeau’s office.
Last month, Nord Stream, operator of the pipeline, updated the end date of the unplanned outage at the Greifswald exit in Germany to April 1, 2023.