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Washington / Moscow / Berlin (dpa) – In the case of poisoned Kremlin critic Alexej Navalny, the US government reacted reluctantly to Germany’s findings.
Washington has yet to see any evidence that the opposition has been poisoned, but it does not doubt Germany’s findings, US President Donald Trump said at a press conference at the White House. “I don’t know exactly what happened. It’s tragic, terrible, we haven’t seen any evidence, but we will.”
Trump refrained from criticizing Moscow, instead emphasizing that he had a good relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Navalny is a vehement critic of the head of the Kremlin and, with his team, uncovered numerous cases of corruption among the Russian power elite.
Russia denies being involved in the poisoning of the 44-year-old opposition activist. The Russian leadership emphasized several times that its own laboratories could not find any poisoning. There is no basis for indicting the Russian state in the case, a Kremlin spokesman said.
Navalny fell into a coma in severe pain on a domestic flight in Russia more than two weeks ago. He was first treated in a Siberian hospital. After international pressure and at the insistence of his family, he was transferred to the Charité University Hospital in Berlin.
After investigations by a special Bundeswehr laboratory, the federal government had announced that the poisoning of the military nerve agent of the so-called Novitschok group had been proven beyond any doubt. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Friday that “informing our partners in the European Union and NATO” was one of the first steps.
The Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized that experts from many Western countries, including NATO countries, were working with chemical weapons like Novichok. There are numerous patents in the United States. In relation to Navalny, there were many “anti-Russia” statements, he said. Moscow specifically criticized a statement made on Friday by Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and French Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. In it, Germany and France jointly asked Russia to clarify the case.
When asked if he doubted the German information, Trump first sidestepped. It’s interesting that everyone mentioned Russia first, but at this point we should talk more about China because the things that China is doing are much worse when you look at what is happening in the world.
Trump then returned to the topic of Navalny’s poisoning by Novichok: “I would be very upset if that were the case. And it seems like it could be the case. Based on what Germany says, it seems to be the case.”
There have been attacks on Navalny in the past and he has been arrested several times. There were also repeated raids on the offices of its employees. On Saturday, police officers tried to detain two employees of Nawalny’s so-called anti-corruption fund, Nawalny spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch said on Twitter. Details are unknown. Initially there was no official confirmation from the authorities.
The Navalny case also sparked a debate about possible sanctions against Russia. The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project in the Baltic Sea is a particular focus. There was a demand to abandon or at least suspend the project.
Trump also renewed his criticism of the pipeline. He does not understand why Germany does business with Russia and at the same time imposes sanctions on Moscow and then hopes that the United States will be protected militarily against the country. In Germany, too, there are now politicians who are critical of the Navalny poisoning project and want to end it. On the other hand, the Prime Minister of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, demanded that the pipeline continue to be built. “We depend on each other, we need this cooperation,” the CDU politician said on Saturday at a meeting in Schwarzenberg in Saxony.
The Berlin judicial administration is now examining a request for legal assistance from the Russian authorities, as announced on Friday by the Berlin prosecutor. Its approval will be decided after an examination and, if necessary, in consultation with the responsible federal authorities.
Moscow had previously accused German authorities of not responding to several requests from Russia and of not wanting to exchange information. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office had requested legal aid in Germany.
