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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has slowed calls for sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The attack on Kremlin critic Alexej Navalny was “a daunting process to which there must be a response at the European level,” Merkel said, according to information from Reuters of the participants in the CDU / CSU parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday.
However, at the EU level, many expressly would not make any connection between the Navalny case and a stoppage of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, he said of German demands to freeze construction. What is needed is a common position among Europeans.
Merkel recalls the procedure in the Skripal case
Merkel had recalled that in the case of the poison attack against Sergej Skripal in Britain there was a joint reaction with the United States, she said. The German federal government had not previously ruled out that EU sanctions could also affect the Baltic Sea pipeline.
According to the participants, the leader of the Union, the leader of the parliamentary group Ralph Brinkhaus and most of the parliamentarians in the debate were cautious about the sanctions against the pipeline. The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Norbert Röttgen, represented a clear minority opinion with his call for a construction freeze, he said. At the same time, there was harsh and broad criticism in the group of the policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Berlin blufft”
The Russian government denies being involved in the Navalny poisoning and that the Kremlin critic was poisoned. “It is time to leave the letters open, because it is clear to everyone: Berlin is bragging to serve a dirty political rampage,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Sakharova wrote on Facebook on Tuesday. That refers to the results of investigations in a German armed forces laboratory and tests by the German Foreign Ministry, Sakharova wrote.
The German ambassador is expected to have an interview on Wednesday. The Berlin Foreign Ministry said it was a long-planned meeting. (apa, reu)
