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NATO requires Russia’s consent for international investigations and the EU threatens sanctions. There are also discussions about a possible completion of the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.
“The Russian government should cooperate fully with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in the context of an impartial international investigation,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday after unscheduled consultations with ambassadors of the NATO of the member states on the Navalny case. “Those responsible must be held accountable and brought to justice.”
After investigations by a special Bundeswehr laboratory, the German government announced on Wednesday that it considered beyond any doubt that Navalny had been poisoned with the military neurotoxin Novitschok. The opposition politician suddenly fell into a coma on a flight over Russia on August 20 and was later transferred to the Berlin Charité at the insistence of his family. According to the Charité, his health is still serious.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) offered help to clarify the Navalny case on Thursday. Under the Chemical Weapons Convention, poisoning a person with a nerve gas will be assessed as the use of chemical weapons, he said.
The EU openly threatened Russia with sanctions. A statement issued late Thursday said the European Union called for a common international response and reserved the right to take appropriate action.
More than 100 MEPs from the EU, including from Austria, called for an international investigation with the participation of the United Nations. They are “extremely skeptical that the Russian authorities are capable and willing to investigate the true antecedents of this crime,” said the letter published on Friday to the EU foreign affairs representative, Josep Borrell, and the German presidency of the Council of the EU.
The President of the EU Council, Charles Michel, condemned the poison attack on Navalny and announced a debate on the consequences. This would first deal with the EU’s foreign ministers and possibly also heads of state and government, Michel said on Friday in an interview with European news agencies. When asked about a possible moratorium on the Germany-Russia Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, Michel said: “I have no intention of expressing an opinion on this today.”
The leader of the European People’s Party (EPP) in the European Parliament, Manfred Weber, brought up the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in response to the Nawalny poisoning. “Of course, the toughest possible sanctions include a partial stop in the purchase of raw materials. The end of Nord Stream 2 can no longer be ruled out,” Weber told the news magazine “Der Spiegel”.
In Germany there is a heated discussion about the end of the pipeline. Union politicians, the Greens and the FDP want to put the billion dollar project to the test. On the contrary, it was mainly business representatives and the Minister of Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier (CDU) who stopped. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert did not want to repeat an earlier statement by Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday that the Navalny case and the future of Nord Stream 2 should be seen separately.
Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) was cautious regarding Nord Stream 2. He understands the discussion, Schallenberg said on Friday in the lunch daily Ö1. “But I don’t know if this is a suitable medium,” he added. However, the discussion must take place. Furthermore, Russian Ambassador Dmitri was appointed to the Foreign Ministry, where he was clearly informed of Austria’s position, which was in line with the EU line, said a spokeswoman for the APA Foreign Ministry.
Swiss-based project company Nord Stream 2 is owned by Russian state-owned Gazprom, and five Western companies, including OMV, are financing the pipeline. The United States vehemently rejects the project.
In the Navalny case, the Moscow leadership was meanwhile ready to speak. A spokesman for the Russian presidential office said on Friday they wanted a dialogue with Germany. The goal is to find out which substance exactly led to Navalny’s disease. Domestic specialists checked the matter.
The Russian authorities have yet to launch any criminal investigation. According to her, there is no evidence of crime. Russian doctors had stated that they had found no signs of intoxication and spoke for the last time of a “digestive disorder”.
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