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In October, the EU imposed sanctions against Russia in connection with the poison attack on Kremlin critic Navalny. Moscow is now reacting with countermeasures that are also directed against Germany.
In response to EU sanctions in connection with the poison attack on Kremlin critic Alexej Navalny, Moscow has imposed entry bans on representatives of Germany and other EU countries. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it had decided “to extend the list of representatives of EU member states that are prohibited from entering the Russian Federation.”
The Foreign Ministry in Berlin said that the sanctions were, among other things, “entry bans for German government agencies.” The Federal Government believes that the measures are “unjustified”. “We continue to call on Russia to investigate the use of a chemical warfare agent on Russian territory against a Russian citizen,” he said.
It is still unknown who these sanctions on the German side will affect. It was said that they will only learn of the punishment if they try to enter.
The Moscow Foreign Ministry invited the charge d’affaires of the German embassy and representatives of the French and Swedish embassies to a meeting to brief them on the sanctions.
Punitive measures already announced in November
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced the punitive measures in November. At a press conference he had said: “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.” He had also announced sanctions for France.
Navalny is said to have been poisoned in August with a chemical nerve agent developed in Russia by the Novichok group. For this reason, the EU issued sanctions in October against senior members of the Russian government, including the first deputy head of the presidential administration, Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of the national intelligence service Alexander Bortnikow and against two deputy defense ministers. The EU’s punitive measures include entry bans and property freezes. Furthermore, Europeans can no longer do business with those affected.
Navalny posts phone call
Meanwhile, the attack on Navalny continues to cause waves: The Kremlin critic said on Monday that an employee of the Russian national intelligence service (FSB), whom he had contacted under a false name, had admitted that he was involved in the poison attack. .
The opposition leader released a recording of a phone call on December 14 posing as an assistant to the head of Russia’s Security Council to gain the man’s trust. The call came in the course of the investigation of various media, including the news magazine “Spiegel”.
The FSB described the phone call as a forgery and a “planned provocation” to discredit her. Investigations would be launched.
Moscow’s Foreign Ministry said confidence in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had fallen further because it was once again “held hostage” by those who used it for geopolitical interests. In October, the OPCW had detected the poisoning of Navalny with a neurotoxin from the Novitschok group, and thus confirmed the results of laboratories in Germany, France and Sweden.
Germany had repeatedly asked Russia to solve the crime. Russia, on the other hand, had denounced the withholding of evidence.
Poison inside underwear?
Navalny collapsed on a domestic flight in Siberia in August. The alleged FSB man said in the now-posted phone call that the poison was adhering to the inside of Nawalny’s underwear. The 44-year-old opponent probably only survived because the flight did not last long enough and the paramedics treated him very quickly.
Last week, various media outlets published an investigation that found that at least eight Russian intelligence agents had carried out the attack on Navalny.
Only last week did President Vladimir Putin speak of an observation by his sharpest critic by Russian intelligence agents, but dismissed the poisoning. Navalny had repeatedly referred to the head of the Kremlin as the mastermind behind the murder.
