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“These sanctions are directed against high-level employees in the management apparatus in Germany and France,” Lavrov said. At first he did not give details or names.
FSB head affected by EU sanctions
In October, the EU imposed punitive measures on selected Russian officials in response to the poison attack allegedly carried out by Russia on Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny.
Among other things, the head of the was affected The powerful FSB national intelligence service, Alexander Bortnikow, as well as other confidants of President Vladimir Putin. (Read more about which senior Russian officials were affected here.)
“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, we will reflect this with our reaction,” Lavrov said. German and French colleagues will receive more details soon.
According to the federal government, Navalny was poisoned with a neurotoxin from the Novitschok group. This diagnosis has been confirmed by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Navalny himself also accuses Putin of being the mastermind behind the attack.
According to the EU, the poison attack on Navalny could not have taken place without the knowledge and approval of the Russian authorities.
Navalny for additional treatment in Germany
Lavrov, for his part, said on Thursday, without citing any evidence, that Moscow had “reason to believe” that the neurotoxin only entered Navalny’s nervous system when she was airlifted to Berlin or had already been to Germany.
Nawalny’s spokeswoman dismissed the assumption that he might have been poisoned in Germany as “the most idiotic of all.”
The opposition member is still in Germany for treatment, but has announced that he will return to Russia after his full recovery.
