On Wednesday, Canada announced it would remove a sanctions waiver that had allowed for the repair and return to Germany of turbines for Russia’s largest gas pipeline to Europe, Nord Stream 1.
On August 31st, the pipeline underneath the Baltic Sea was closed down for maintenance, but it was never reopened, and by the end of September, it had developed serious leaks.
European officials believe the pipeline’s break and that of another pipeline called Nord Stream 2 were the results of deliberate acts of sabotage. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has described Western accusations that Russia was responsible for explosions “crazy,” and Moscow has pointed the finger at 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,” said Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and Foreign Minister Melanie Joly in a joint statement.
They added that they had worked carefully with Ukraine, Germany, and other European partners in the decision-making process.
According to a readout from Trudeau’s office, he and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz talked about “Europe’s energy security, in particular related to critical supply chains” on Tuesday.
The pipeline’s operator, Nord Stream AG, announced this month that the unexpected outage at the Greifswald exit in Germany will conclude on April 1, 2023.
Original source material for this article taken from here
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