Authorities in German are said to have begged for Canada to surrender a part needed for its Russian gas pipeline by arguing that the essential component was needed to prevent “popular uprisings”, a report claims.
In the hopes of persuading authorities within Justin Trudeau’s leftist government to relax sanctions against Russia enough to allow the export of an essential energy pipeline part, German authorities reportedly told their Canadian counterparts that, without the component in question, Germany would be forced to fend off internal “popular uprisings”.
While authorities have since tried to play down their own statements on the matter, these claims made by German authorities are consistent with previous statements from ministers, with one decrying the possibility of so-called “right-wing extremists” gaining popularity should the country’s government be unable to manage the country’s energy situation.
According to a report by Die Welt, Germany’s foreign affairs minister, Annalena Baerbock, told Canadian authorities that Germany would no longer be able to support Ukraine without the Siemens-produced turbine, which has been deemed an extremely important part for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline between Russia and Europe.
The absence of the part allegedly due to Western sanctions had been used as a raison d’être by Russian President Vladimir Putin to drastically reduce the amount of Russian gas being supplied to Germany, a reduction that launched the central European state head-first into a crippling gas crisis.
“The Canadians said, ‘We have a lot of questions’, so we said, ‘We can understand that, but if we don’t get the gas turbine, then we won’t get any more gas, and then we won’t be able to support Ukraine at all perform because we are then busy with popular uprisings,” the publication reports Baerbock as saying.
When pressed on the point, the Green party official reportedly retreated slightly, saying that the possibility of “popular uprisings” was “perhaps a bit exaggerated”, despite the fact that Germany “still need[s] gas from Russia.”
Despite her retreat on the issue, Baerbock’s statement to Canadian officials in regards to the possibility of popular uprisings echoes previous warnings issued by the country’s antifa-linked Minister for the Interior, Nancy Faeser.
According to Faeser, the current government’s inability to control the gas situation could lead to the likes of COVID-19 lockdown protesters — who have been so often decried and attacked by the country’s political class in the past — gaining popularity amongst the general public.
“Of course there is a risk that those who roared out their contempt for democracy during the Corona period and were often out and about with right-wing extremists will see the sharply rising prices as a new mobilization issue try to abuse,” Faeser previously said, the minister having been in the past criticised for allegedly ignoring far-left and Islamic extremism in favour of attacking the right.
“They want to exacerbate crises in order to make a profit from them,” she went on to claim.
This sentiment was echoed by the leader of the German Greens, who said he feared that “right-wing populists” would “exploit” a forthcoming gas crisis, while another official for the Social Democratic Party said that his country was “probably facing the greatest social test in post-war history”.