According to government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit, the federal government has received “positive signals” from the Canadian government that the Siemens Energy turbine being serviced there for the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline will be delivered to Russia.
Hebestreit could not confirm that the delivery had already taken place. Earlier, the Reuters news agency reported that Canada had dropped its opposition to the delivery.
The federal government had negotiated with the Canadian government because the delivery could violate sanctions against Russia, even if the EU has not imposed a gas embargo on Russia.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Economic Affairs said that Canada had therefore offered to first deliver the turbine to Germany and not to the Russian energy company Gazprom.
The German government argues that the Russian government should not be given an excuse to cut gas supplies to Europe by pointing to the missing turbine.
If the turbine can be used again, the Russian government can no longer refer to the alleged technical problem. Annual maintenance work on the Nord Stream gas pipeline is scheduled to begin on July 11. Economics Minister Habeck then fears a delivery stop. It wouldn’t be “super surprising” if any small part was found.
