Russia's Weapon of Punishment : Betraying Ukraine

"Canada's decision to break sanctions and send the Siemens turbine back to Russia is a grave mistake with dire consequences. This exemption to the sanctions regime against Russia is totally unacceptable."

"We cannot supply a terrorist state with the tools it needs to finance the killing of tens of thousands of innocent people." 

"People and businesses who believe in freedom, democracy and human rights can and should unite to create breakthrough solutions to the energy crisis Russia has made. We came together to find vaccines to protect ourselves against COVID. We can find ways to protect ourselves from the Kremlin."

"We understand that the entire world is suffering rising food prices, significant food shortages, rise in gas prices inflation, and that this is all the responsibility of Vladimir Putin."

"And we can't, we can't, we can't lose sight of that. We need to be very resolute and principled in this because any wavering will be exploited by Vladimir Putin."

Paul Grod, president, CEO, Ukrainian World Congress

The German government acknowledges Russian President Vladimir Putin may be using the turbine as a pretext for energy blackmail. (Gleb Garanich/Sputnik/AFP/Getty Images)

"The political export decision is a necessary and important first step for the delivery of the turbine."

"Currently, our experts are working intensively on all further formal approvals and logistics; among other things, this involves legally required export and import control procedures."

"Our goal is to transport the turbine to its place of operation as quickly as possible."

Siemens Canada

 

"If a terrorist state can squeeze out such an exception to sanctions, what exception will it want tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.?"

"The decision on the exception to sanctions will be perceived in Moscow as a manifestation of weakness."

"Russia has never played by the rules in the energy sector and it will not play now unless it sees strength."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskii 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky watches Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greet an unidentified Ukrainian soldier as the two leaders arrive for a joint press conference in Kyiv on May 8. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)

Canada's deputy prime minister, its past Minister of Foreign Affairs and current Finance Minister is Chrystia Freeland, a former journalist and critic of Moscow and Vladimir Putin, persona non grata in Russia and glad for it. She is also, just incidentally, an ethnic Ukrainian and proud of her cultural and social inheritance. She is deeply integrated with Canada's Ukrainian community, a large diaspora. Her parents arrived in Canada after World War II. Her grandfather operated a newspaper in Poland that aided fascist Germany's propaganda machine targeting Europe's Jews along with its extermination program.

This, by way of background. Yet, perhaps as fitting, not a word from Minister Freeland on her government's decision to respond positively to Germany's appeal to release a critical piece of machinery in the operation of Russia's Nord Stream pipeline operation, in Canada undergoing repairs at a Siemens Canadian installation in Quebec. The sanctions program exerting pressure on Moscow through economic pain linked to efforts to persuade Russia to withdraw from Ukraine makes the return of the Siemens gas-pipeline component forbidden.

Yet the government of Canada saw fit to suspend sanctions temporarily allowing the export of the critical component back to Russia to improve the functionality of the pipeline with the turbine's return, maintenance completed. To evade the appearance of breaking the sanctions, Germany's solution is that the turbine be returned to Germany and Germany would deliver it to Russia. Germany fears its gas will be completely cut off without the turbine back in place enabling the pipeline to operate at full strength.

This decision to comply with Germany's frantic request has seen the Ukrainian World Congress request a judicial review with the aim of cancelling the export permit for the turbine and to prevent any additional maintenance work for Russian pipeline components to be performed in Canada.They want a court-ordered cancellation of the "time-limited and revocable permit" altogether. The argument that Moscow's conflict in Ukraine is being funded by these gas sales throughout Europe is unassailable.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, right, welcomes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for a meeting at the chancellery in Berlin on March 9. Canada must choose between angering Germany and offending Ukraine as it decides what to do with a turbine under repair in this country that has been snagged by the sanctions regime. (Michael Sohn/The Associated Press)

"[Europe's natural gas problems are significant and Canada is looking to do everything possible to help]."

"This is not just a matter of inconvenience. This is a fundamental threat to their ability to provide the basics for their citizens, from heat for their homes, to fuel to transport food and goods and power to sustain their industries, their jobs and their economies."

Canadian Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson

"The United States is united with our Allies and partners in our commitment to promoting European energy security, reducing our collective dependence on Russian energy, and maintaining pressure on the Kremlin."

"We support the Canadian government’s decision."

U.S. State Department

The pipe systems and shut-off devices at the gas receiving station of the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline and the transfer station of the OPAL gas pipeline, Baltic Sea Pipeline Link, stand in Lubmin, Germany, Monday, July 11, 2022. ( Jens Buettner/dpa via AP)