OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada’s Ukrainian group is urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to refuse to compromise the nation’s sanctions towards Russia so as to return a turbine that Moscow says is essential for supplying pure gas to Germany.
Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom minimize the capability alongside the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to simply 40% of normal ranges final month, citing the delayed return of kit being serviced by Germany’s Siemens Energy in Canada.
Canada has one of many world’s greatest Ukrainian diasporas outdoors of nations that border Ukraine and has efficiently pressured Ottawa to impose more and more strict sanctions towards Russia because it invaded Ukraine in February.
Ukrainian Canadian Congress nationwide president Alexandra Chyczij urged Trudeau, in a letter on Wednesday, to see by means of Russia’s “apparent ploy” to divide Ukraine’s allies.
Ottawa ought to as a substitute dealer an answer that doesn’t contain waiving sanctions, she wrote within the letter, posted on the Congress’s web site.
“Any waiver of Canadian sanctions could be considered as a capitulation to Russian blackmail and vitality terrorism, and would solely serve to embolden the Russian terrorist state,” Chyczij mentioned.
A Canadian authorities supply mentioned the Ukrainian authorities itself opposes the turbine’s return.
Trudeau’s workplace had no speedy touch upon the letter.
“We won’t cease imposing extreme prices on the Putin regime whereas their unjustifiable invasion is ongoing and we’ll proceed to help our European associates and allies,” mentioned Ian Cameron, spokesman for Canada’s pure assets minister, in an announcement.
A spokesperson for the Russian embassy in Ottawa didn’t instantly remark.
The technical downside with the turbine is merely a Russian pretext, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck mentioned final week.
Canada, alongside its Western allies, has issued sweeping sanctions on Russia after Moscow despatched troops into Ukraine in what the Kremlin calls a “particular navy operation.”
(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg and Steve Scherer in Ottawa; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
