A repaired Siemens turbine used in Russia’s Nord Stream pipeline was shipped from Canada to Germany on Sunday, Russian media outlet Kommersant reported Monday.
According to the report, the unit was loaded onto a plane, rather than sent via sea freight, to speed up its return to Europe. After it arrives in Germany, Kommersant said the turbine will be shipped by land to Finland and is scheduled to arrive at Russia’s Portovaya station, where it will be collected by Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom on July 24.
Canada granted an exception to sanctions on Russia in order to allow Germany’s Siemens Energy to fix the Nord Stream pipeline, despite pleas from Kyiv to cut Moscow’s revenue streams after its invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy brought up the issue with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a call on Sunday. In his nightly address, Zelenskyy said he had “emphasized that Ukrainians will never accept Canada’s decision regarding the Nord Stream turbine, which was decided to be handed over to Germany in violation of the sanctions regime.” He added: “Russia deliberately does this blackmailing with gas and provoking violations of sanctions.”
A Siemens spokesperson declined to confirm the Kommersant report, but said the company’s “goal is to transport the turbine to its place of operation as quickly as possible.” Gazprom and Nord Stream AG did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.
The turbine was shipped to Canada for repairs, with Gazprom blaming its delayed return for a 40 percent reduction in gas deliveries through the Nord Stream pipeline, which delivers Russian gas to Germany.
Nord Stream went offline for annual maintenance on July 11, and is scheduled to return to operation on July 21. But German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, who lobbied the Canadian government to return the pipeline, has said he is concerned that it may never come back online.
