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Russia imposes sanctions on Germany in Navalny case
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“I called my killer, he confessed”
Four months after he was poisoned, Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny said he called the alleged perpetrator. Navalny posted on YouTube a recording of a telephone conversation with a suspected agent of the Russian national secret service FSB.
Russia has imposed an entry ban on several German government employees. This is in response to the EU sanctions in the Navalny case. The names of the affected people were not published, they only found out about the penalty when they entered Russia.
RUssland has imposed entry bans on representatives of the German government apparatus. This was announced on Tuesday to the Charge d’Affaires of the German Embassy in Moscow, Beate Grzeski, during a conversation at the Russian Foreign Ministry, according to the German Press Agency of the Foreign Ministry in Berlin.
Moscow is reacting to the sanctions imposed by the EU for the poisoning of Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced the punitive measures in November. The names of the individuals concerned were not released. You will only know the penalty when you enter Russia.
The EU imposed sanctions on Russian officials in October because, in its view, the poison attack on Navalny could not have taken place without the knowledge and approval of Russian state agencies. The EU’s punitive measures include entry bans and property freezes. Furthermore, Europeans can no longer do business with those affected. Also on the list is the Russian state research institute for organic chemistry and technology, which is said to have developed the agent of war.
Lavrov announced the countermeasures at a press conference in mid-November: “Because Germany was the locomotive of the EU sanctions in relation to Navalny and because the sanctions affect the senior staff of the Russian presidential administration, our response will be reflected. ” It also had sanctions against France. announces. Representatives from France and Sweden also participated in the conversation at Moscow’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs asks Russia to clarify the case
During the conversation at the Foreign Ministry, the German charge d’affaires was only informed that the entry bans are related to the EU sanctions. “No further details were revealed,” the Foreign Ministry said. It is common practice on the Russian side that names are not disclosed. The EU had mentioned the names against.
Russia had already responded to sanctions from the EU and other countries following a poison attack on former double agent Sergej Skripal in Britain with similar countermeasures in 2018. At the time, it involved the expulsion of diplomats.
“While this pattern of Russian countermeasures has been known from the past, the Federal Government believes that it remains unjustified,” the Foreign Ministry said. “The incident is not a bilateral case, but it remains a case with an international dimension due to the violation of international law that involves the use of a chemical nerve agent.” “So far, Russia has shown no willingness to do this,” he said.
Navalny phones a suspected killer
Navalny collapsed in August during a flight from Russia. Two days later, he was taken to the Charité University Hospital in Berlin for treatment, in a coma. The laboratory results on Novichok poisoning were confirmed by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Navalny announced on Monday via the short message service Twitter that an employee of the Russian national secret service FSB had admitted to being involved in the attack on him. Navalny also posted a transcript and recording of the more than 45-minute phone call.
In a message to Russian news agencies, the FSB described the phone call as a “provocation”, which would not have been possible without the “help of foreign secret services”. Therefore, the FSB should be “discredited”; the recording published by Navalny was “false”.
