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Russia’s economy came under pressure on Thursday, amid growing calls for new Western sanctions, over Germany’s announcement that opposition figure Alexei Navalny had been poisoned with Novichok’s nerve gas.
And the Berlin announcement on Wednesday caused the Russian currency to fall to its lowest level since it reached at the height of Russia’s emerging coronavirus crisis in the spring. On Thursday morning, the currency was trading at 89 rubles to the euro and 75.4 rubles to the dollar.
At one point, it fell to 89.8 rubles per euro, its lowest level since 2016.
The ruble had lost 20 percent of its value against the euro and the dollar since the beginning of the year, amid the virus crisis and deteriorating oil prices.
The Moscow Stock Exchange fell more than 3 percent after the German announcement, and it wasn’t until Thursday morning that it recouped its losses.
Western leaders demanded explanations from Moscow after Germany announced that the 44-year-old Kremlin’s medical tests had shown “conclusive evidence” that he had been poisoned with Novichok nerve gas.
Navalny, a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, developed symptoms of illness after boarding a plane in Siberia last month. He was initially treated in a Russian hospital before being transferred to Berlin for specialized treatment.
As a result, there have been calls for new economic sanctions on Moscow, in addition to those affecting entire sectors of the economy, which were imposed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
The new sanctions could lead to higher consumer prices in Russia, where living standards have fallen since 2014.
“Russia’s relations with the West have again poisoned Novichok,” the Kommersant newspaper wrote on Thursday, adding that it was clear that the European Union and the United States were seriously considering imposing new sanctions.
“The main question is how far they decide to go,” he said.
A new crisis in relations with the West could threaten the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, valued at 10 billion euros ($ 11 billion), whose construction is nearing completion under the Baltic Sea. The project is supposed to double Russian natural gas shipments to Germany.
Completion of the project was delayed for months after Washington announced the imposition of new sanctions on companies involved in the Nord Stream 2 project, amid fears of growing Russian influence.
Germany expressed anger at the US decision and said Washington is interfering in its internal affairs.
But Bild, Germany’s largest newspaper, called on Thursday for the project to be stopped, writing: “If the (German) government does not stop construction of the Nord Stream 2 project, we will soon finance Putin’s attacks on Novichok.
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