Minister of Economy calls for their turbine to be released under sanctions for a full-scale restart of Nord Stream
The German Vice Chancellor has made a public appeal to the Canadian government to release the turbine, which is under sanctions against Russia and is critical to gas flows to Europe.
Economics Minister Robert Habek told Bloomberg that the Nord Stream 1 turbine needs to be returned before repairs begin on Monday. The return of this component will deprive Russian President Vladimir Putin of an excuse to cut gas supplies .
“I will be the first to fight for a further tough package of EU sanctions, but tough sanctions mean they have to hurt Russia and Putin more than our economy,” Habek said in a phone interview late Wednesday night. “Therefore, I ask you to understand that we must take away this turbine excuse from Putin.”
Germany faces the prospect of energy rationing in the coming months, which could hurt businesses and consumers and send Europe’s biggest economy into recession. Officials have warned that Russia could shut down Nord Stream for a long time after a two-week maintenance period on Russia’s largest gas connection to Europe. Flows were already down by 60% in June due to a turbine problem, hampering German efforts to keep enough supplies for the winter.