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Friday, September 04, 2020
The Kremlin wants nothing to do with the poisoning of opposition activist Alexei Navalny and warns against a “politicization” of the case. However, the EU is giving up its restraint and heading to Moscow clearly. In Germany the question arises as to how the Nord Stream 2 project will continue.
The EU openly threatened Russia with sanctions following the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. A statement issued late Thursday said the European Union called for a common international response and reserved the right to take appropriate action. This also included penalties. Representatives of the NATO countries want to discuss possible reactions to the Navalny poisoning at an unscheduled meeting today. There is a heated debate in Germany about whether a construction freeze on the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline could also be an option as a possible sanction.
“The Russian government must do everything possible to investigate this crime thoroughly and with full transparency and bring those responsible to justice,” said the statement published on behalf of the member states by the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep. Borrell. “Impunity cannot and will not be accepted.” The use of chemical weapons is not acceptable under any circumstances and constitutes a serious violation of international law and human rights standards. “The European Union strongly condemns the assassination attempt on Alexei Navalny,” he says. On Thursday afternoon, a Borrell spokesman reacted rather cautiously to questions about Russian sanctions. He said that unless it is known who is responsible, it is difficult to talk about punitive measures.
The Kremlin wants to avoid “politicization”
The Russian opposition politician suddenly fell into a coma on a flight on August 20 and was later transferred to Berlin Charité at the insistence of his family. According to the clinic, his health is still serious. On Wednesday, after investigations by a special Bundeswehr laboratory, the federal government announced that it viewed it as unequivocally proven that Navalny had been poisoned with the military neurotoxin Novitschok. Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke of an “attempted poisoning”.
The Moscow Kremlin had rejected a possible involvement in the case. Russian Ambassador to Berlin Sergei Netschajew told ZDF: “I would also like to appeal to our German colleagues: as long as the situation has not been clarified, avoid any politicization and, let’s say, dispense with preliminary assessments and just look at the facts. support. “He added:” It was already reported that before Mr. Navalny was transferred from Omsk to Berlin, no traces of toxins had been found in his samples. “
In an interview with ntv, Navalny’s partner Leonid Volkov said he had no doubt that Navalny had been poisoned. “But the fact that they used Putin’s favorite poison, which is like his signature, is still a big surprise,” said the opponent’s confidant.
On short notice, NATO scheduled an unscheduled meeting for this Friday. Following the North Atlantic Council meeting on behalf of the Ambassador, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will make a statement. The diplomats hope that the allies will unanimously ask the Russian authorities to investigate the case thoroughly. For the moment, further action within NATO is considered highly unlikely.
Doubts about the Nord Stream 2 project
In Berlin, the Bundestag’s parliamentary watchdog responsible for the secret services is expected to take up the case on Monday. Most likely, the special session will take place on Monday. “We are interested in the circumstances of the event,” said the president of the German publishing network, Armin Schuster, and the question of whether it was a secret service operation or something else. “These methods remind me of the East German Ministry of State Security and the Soviet KGB,” said the CDU man. “State assassination orders were part of the job profile for certain services in the East. You can’t imagine that: but we got there again.”
The case has reignited the debate over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, which is supposed to deliver Russian gas to Germany. The Greens, the FDP and external CDU expert Norbert Röttgen, among others, have called for a suspension or moratorium on the German-Russian project. However, it was only last week that Chancellor Merkel made it clear that she did not want to link the Navalny case to Nord Stream 2.
The member of the Green Bundestag, Cem Özdemir, told the “Berliner Zeitung”: “We cannot distinguish between Putin, the gas trader, and Putin, who is poisoning the opposition.” An oil pipeline that “deepens economic relations with Russia and continues to fill the Kremlin’s war chest with euros” is clearly not in the European interest. CDU foreign politician Roderich Kiesewetter, for his part, declared that “we have to stand up now” at Nord Stream 2. “We can’t get out of nuclear power, get out of coal, condemn American shale gas and then dispensing with Russian gas, “he argued. Brandenburg Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke told “Handelsblatt” that the project was important for the energy supply in Germany and Europe. It is true that it condemns in the strongest terms what is happening in Russia. “At the same time, however, we must not cut the branch that we are sitting on.”
