Germany may drop Russian gas pipeline after Navalny poisoning

GERMANY could drop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline as punishment for the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader.

Heiko Maas, Germany’s foreign minister, said in comments made to Bild newspaper that he hoped “the Russians do not force us to change our position on Nord Stream”.

He said Berlin “would be compelled” to raise with its allies the issue of sanctions if Russia did not take steps toward investigating Mr Navalny’s poisoning.

“If the Russians don’t take part in solving the case then it is a further indication they were involved,” Mr Maas said. “If they don’t go beyond smoke and mirrors we’ll have to assume that Russia has something to hide.”

Dominic Raab, the UK Foreign Secretary, said: “The use of chemical weapons in this kind of context is pure gangsterism and Russia does have responsibility never to use it as a government, and to make sure no one else can use it within its territory.”

Nord Stream 2 would bring more Russian gas to Europe via Germany, and is of strategic importance to Russia.

Cancelling the project would be an ultima ratio for Germany, given its own financial interest in seeing the project through. There is little more than 60 miles of the multi-billion-euro pipeline left to go, but nothing has happened on the project since the US, which is opposed to it, threatened the firms involved with sanctions last December.

And since a German laboratory confirmed on Wednesday that Mr Navalny had been the victim of an assassination attempt with the Novichok nerve gas, domestic pressure has grown on Berlin to cancel the gas line.

Even within the ruling Christian Democratic Union party, Norbert Röttgen, an influential foreign policy expert, said: “If the project were to be completed that would give Putin the ultimate proof that he can carry on with his politics as normal. A European decision should be: stop Nord Stream 2.”

Mr Maas made clear, however, that he wanted to avoid affecting the gas line if at all possible.

“Those calling for a stop need to know what the consequences are,” he said. “There are more than 100 companies from 12 European countries involved, and roughly half of them are German.”

There were also indications that Angela Merkel, the Chancellor, had shifted her stance after saying last week that the pipeline should remain “decoupled” from the Navalny incident. The statement came in for criticism from sections of the media. Asked at Friday’s press conference if she would repeat it, her spokesman, Stefan Seibert, declined to comment.

Mr Navalny is currently in an artificially induced coma in Berlin’s Charité hospital. Doctors say his condition is improving but that he will have a long road to recovery.