Ottawa –
Protesters on Sunday called on Canada to “be as brave as Ukraine” and maintain economic sanctions against Russia, just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent essentially the same message to the prime minister.
In a phone call between the leaders, Zelenskyy told Justin Trudeau that his position on sanctions against Russia “must have principles” at a time when relations between Canada and the assaulted country are looking a bit strained by the Canada’s controversial decision to send parts of a Russian natural gas. gas pipeline back to Germany.
Zelenskyy summed up his conversation in a brief statement shared on Twitter, saying he thanked Trudeau for the powerful defense support Canada has offered his country, but also raised the importance of maintaining sanctions.
“After the terrorist attacks in Vinnytsia, Mykolaiv, Chasiv Yar, etc., the pressure must increase, not decrease,” he said.
Trudeau reiterated Canada’s support for Ukraine against Russia’s military aggression, according to an official account of the discussion in the prime minister’s office.
The two leaders also spoke of maintaining unity among their allies and of imposing “serious costs” on Russia, the OMP said.
Canada agreed earlier this month to grant an exemption to economic sanctions imposed against Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
The two-year exemption would allow six Siemens Energy turbines, which were in Montreal for repairs, to be returned to Germany for use in the Russian state-owned Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
Trudeau has previously defended the decision and said Canada’s German ally depends on the pipeline’s natural gas supply.
In a written and video address last week, however, Zelenskyy called the move “absolutely unacceptable.”
Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom last month reduced gas deliveries from its Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which runs in northeastern Germany, by 60%, citing turbine-related technical problems.
The decision has left several Ukrainian supporters who attended a rally in Ottawa on Sunday afternoon in disbelief.
Canadian-Ukrainian Yuri Kolomiyets told the crowd of about 150 supporters gathered on the grass of Parliament Hill that the decision will mean more money for oil and gas for Russia to fund its attack on Ukraine.
“I guess it’s okay to supply technology and money to genocidal maniacs, as long as it keeps German voters happy,” Kolomiyets told the crowd, provoking cries of “shame” in response.
“It’s not their children who die in missile attacks.”
Two young protesters, Arenii Pivtorak and Ladoslao Zaichka, have been camping outside the Parliament Hill for days and say they have been on hunger strike since July 9, when the resignation was announced.
“This decision broke our hearts. We felt that the pockets of the Germans were more important than the lives of Ukraine,” Pivtorak, 19, said of the decision.
Zaichka said he is especially passionate about the decision because he has family in Ukraine.
“What Justin Trudeau did and what the Canadian government has done bothers me as a Canadian, but even worse for me as a Ukrainian,” he said.
The Ottawa chapter of the Ukrainian-Canadian Congress planned the Parliament Hill protest to urge the government to revoke the resignation.
Protesters demanded that Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who defended the turbine’s decision last week, be held accountable to the Ukrainian community in Canada. They also called for the government to “be with Ukraine.”
Speaking to reporters at a teleconference after a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Bali, Indonesia on Saturday, Freeland said Germany’s ability to maintain its support for Ukraine could be at risk if the turbines were not returned. . He said a united effort by the G7 would be needed to support Ukraine and allow the repaired parts to return to Germany was “the right thing to do”.
The parent organization of the congress, the World Congress of Ukraine, has asked the Federal Court for a judicial review in hopes of preventing the turbines from reaching Germany.
“Both Canada and Germany, we believe, have been manipulated here by the Russians,” the national executive director of the Ukrainian Congress, Ihor Michalchyshyn, said before the planned protest.
The group claims that Canada yielded to Russian blackmail and set a dangerous precedent that will lead to the weakening of the sanctions regime imposed on Russia.
“This is a decision that has also angered Canadians and the Ukrainian government,” Michalchyshyn said.
He said the Ukrainian-Canadians involved in his group initially expressed surprise and disappointment when they learned that Canada would allow the turbines to be returned.
The Ukrainian-Canadian Congress is expected to appear at a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee to discuss the decision, along with the ambassadors of Ukraine, Germany and the European Union to Canada.
Foreign Minister Melanie Joly and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson have also been summoned to the committee to answer questions about the exception.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on July 17, 2022.