Protesters called on Canada to “be brave like Ukraine” and maintain economic sanctions against Russia on Sunday, just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered essentially the same message to the prime minister.
In a phone call between the leaders, Zelenskyy told Justin Trudeau that his stance on sanctions against Russia “must be principled” at a time when relations between Canada and the beleaguered country are somewhat strained by Canada’s controversial decision. to ship parts of a Russian natural gas. pipeline back to Germany.
Zelenskyy recapped their conversation in a brief statement shared on Twitter, saying he thanked Trudeau for the continued 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 from the Prime Minister’s Office.
The two leaders also discussed maintaining unity among their allies and imposing “severe costs” on Russia, the PMO said.
Canada agreed earlier this month to grant a waiver to economic sanctions issued against Russia in response to the Ukraine invasion.
The two-year waiver would allow six Siemens Energy turbines, which were in Montreal for repairs, to be returned to Germany for use on the Russian state-owned Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline.
Trudeau previously defended the decision, saying Canada’s German ally relies on natural gas supplies from the pipeline.
However, in a written and video speech last week, Zelenskyy called the move “absolutely unacceptable.”
Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom cut gas deliveries from its Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which runs into northeast Germany, by 60 percent last month, citing technical problems related to the turbine.
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 lawn of Parliament Hill that the decision will mean more oil and gas money for Russia to finance its attack on Ukraine.
“I guess it’s fine to provide genocidal maniacs with the technology and the money, as long as it keeps German voters happy,” Kolomiyets told the crowd, drawing cries of “shame” in response.
“It is not their children who are killed in the missile strikes.”
Two young protesters, Arsenii Pivtorak and Ladislao Zaichka, camped outside Parliament Hill for days and say they have been on a hunger strike since July 9, when the waiver was announced.
“This decision broke our hearts. We felt that the pockets of the Germans were more important than the lives of the Ukrainians,” Pivtorak, 19, said of the decision.
Zaichka said she is especially passionate about the decision because she has family in Ukraine.
“What Justin Trudeau did and what the Canadian government has done is upsetting to me as a Canadian, but even worse to me as a Ukrainian,” he said.
The Ottawa chapter of the Canadian-Ukrainian Congress planned the protest on Parliament Hill to urge the government to revoke the waiver.
The protesters called on Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who defended the turbine decision last week, to answer to the Ukrainian community in Canada. They also chanted for the government to “support Ukraine”.
Speaking to reporters in a teleconference after a G20 finance ministers meeting 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 it would take a united G7 effort to support Ukraine and allowing repaired parts to return to Germany was “the right thing to do.” The United States has also spoken in support of Canada’s decision.
The parent organization of the congress, the Ukrainian World Congress, has applied to the Federal Court for judicial review in hopes of preventing the turbines from reaching Germany.
“We believe that both Canada and Germany have been manipulated here by the Russians,” the national executive director of the Ukrainian Congress, Ihor Michalchyshyn, said before the planned protest.
The group maintains that Canada bowed 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 angered Canadians and the Ukrainian government as well,” Michalchyshyn said.
He said the Ukrainian-Canadians involved in his group initially expressed surprise and disappointment when they learned that Canada would allow the return of the turbines.
The government has also faced a political backlash. In a video posted to Twitter on Sunday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney admonished Liberals for helping finance Russian oil and gas and allowing the country to continue to dominate the European energy market.
“Why do we have a government in Ottawa that impedes efforts to export responsible Canadian energy to Europe while helping Vladimir Putin’s Gazprom continue to dominate European energy markets? It makes no sense,” Kenney said.
The Canadian-Ukrainian Congress is expected to appear at a Foreign Affairs Committee meeting to discuss the decision, along with the Ukrainian, German and European Union ambassadors to Canada.
Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson were also summoned to the committee to answer questions about the exception.
Echoing Zelenskyy’s principled position on sanctions, protester Oksana Bashuk Hepburn said Canada’s strength is its values. Standing in front of parliament buildings wearing a straw hat decorated with a ribbon in Ukraine’s yellow and blue colors, she said Canada should stick to those values and abide by sanctions.
“You have persuasion because you have an honorable reputation. Take it back,” he said.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on July 17, 2022.