Germany ramps up pressure on Kremlin over Navalny poisoning

Germany has increased pressure on Russia over the poisoning of Russian opposition p o l i t i c i a n A l e x e i N a v a l ny, warning that a lack of support by Moscow in the investigation could “force” Germany to rethink the fate of a GermanRussian gas pipeline project.

“I hope the Russians won’t force us to change our position regarding the Nord Stream 2” pipeline being built under the Baltic S ea, German foreign m i n i s t e r H e i k o M a a s t o l d weekly Bild am Sonntag.

He did not exclude punishments against Russia, telling t h e n e ws p a p e r t h a t , “i f we think ab out sanctions, they should b e pinp ointed effec - tively”.

Mr Maas also admitted that halting the nearly completed gas pipeline would harm German and European companies.

“W h o e v e r d e m a n d s t h i s has to be aware of the consequences,” he said. “More than 100 companies from 12 European countries are involved [in the construction], about half of them from Germany.”

T h e G e r ma n g ove r n me n t has come under growing pressure to use the pipeline project as leverage in getting Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to p r ov i d e a n s we r s o n Nava lny. The Nord Stream 2 would deliver Russian gas directly to Germany under the Baltic Sea, bypassing Ukraine.

Mr Navalny, a Kremlin critic and corruption investigator, fell ill on a flight to Moscow last month and was taken to a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk. He has been in an induced coma in a B erlin hospital since he was flown to Germany for treatment on 22 August.

G e r ma n a u t h o r i t i e s h ave said tests showed that he had been poisoned with a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group.

The nerve agent, developed during the Soviet era, was the poison used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in 2018.

“We have high expectations from the Russians to bring light into this severe crime,” Mr Maas said. “If they have nothing to do with this attack then it’s in their own interest to put the facts on the table.”

Mr Putin’s spokesman has brushed off allegations that the Kremlin was involved in poisoning Mr Navalny.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Mr Navalny’s poisoning an attempted murder that aimed to silence one of Mr Putin’s fiercest critics and called for a full investigation.

M s M e r k e l p e r s o n a l l y offered the countr y’s assistance in treating Mr Navalny. He is now in a stable condition at Berlin’s Charite hospital but doctors expect a long recovery and haven’t ruled out that the 44-year- old could face longterm effects to his health.

Mr Merkel has previously rejected the idea that the Navalny case should be linked to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipe - line.