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northAfter the poisonous attack on Kremlin critic Alexei Navalnyj, the West still does not have a common position on possible sanctions against Russia. US President Donald Trump said Friday that he had no evidence of a poison attack, but had no doubts about Germany’s findings. “I don’t know exactly what happened, but we will see,” Trump told a White House news conference on the case of the Russian opposition politician. Germany had previously informed its NATO allies, including the United States, that Navalnyj had been exposed to a Novichok group neurotoxin before falling into a coma.
The federal government considers that it is “beyond all doubt” proven that Navalnyj was poisoned with the nerve agent Novitschok. The Kremlin critic fell suddenly into a coma on a flight home and is being treated in Berlin at the urging of his family. Doctors at the Siberian hospital where Navalnyj was initially treated, according to their own statements and according to the Kremlin, found no poison in the body of the well-known critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Novichok was developed by Soviet scientists in the 1970s.
“I don’t know exactly what happened,” said the US president. Based on what Germany says, it appears to be Novitschok poisoning Navalnyj. “I would be very upset if that was the case,” Trump said. Russia denies being involved in the poisoning of the 44-year-old politician. In recent days, even theories have been put forward about the Kremlin according to which Navalnyj in Berlin could have been poisoned by Germans or could have consumed poison himself. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the West’s statements about a poison attack on Navalnyj should receive a “good dose of skepticism.” First, Berlin would have to comply with Russia’s request for legal assistance anyway.
Trump said nothing about the possible consequences, but stressed that he was “much tougher on Russia than anyone else.” At the same time, the president emphasized that the ongoing negotiations with Moscow on the control of nuclear weapons were more important than any other issue. Trump stressed that he had a good relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Instead, he renewed his criticism of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project. He does not understand why Germany is doing business with Russia and at the same time imposing sanctions on Moscow and then hoping that the United States is militarily protected against the country. In Germany, too, there are now politicians who are critical of the Navalny poisoning project and want to end it.
Possible sanctions against Russia due to the poison attack are currently being discussed at the EU level. At a special NATO meeting on Friday, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called for an “impartial” investigation into the case. All 30 NATO members had “condemned the” horrific assassination attempt “of the Kremlin critic” in the strongest possible terms, “Stoltenberg said. The use of nerve agents is” a flagrant violation of international law “and requires” a international response ”.
Federal Chancellor Heiko Maas (SPD) and his French colleague Jean-Yves Le Drian jointly asked Moscow to “immediately clarify the course of the incident and the responsibilities for this attempted assassination of a member of the Russian opposition.” The attack on Navalnyj was a “very serious violation of the fundamental principles of democracy and political pluralism.”
CDU foreign politician Norbert Röttgen called for a common European approach. France and Germany should refrain from “acting alone” in their relations with Russia. So Paris should no longer depend on a bilateral strategic partnership with Russia, said the CDU presidential candidate of the “Rheinische Post”. Röttgen emphasized that the “axis of a common European strategy” is not to use Nord Stream 2. Germany’s approval of this Russian project was ultimately against the vast majority of European partners from the start. Röttgen’s internal party competitor Friedrich Merz calls for a two-year construction freeze on Nord Stream 2.
