Russia – Putin spoke to Merkel about Ukraine and Navalny

Moscow (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin made serious accusations against Ukraine in a phone call with Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The neighboring country is responsible for provocations in eastern Ukraine, which are fueling the situation there, as the Kremlin announced on Thursday. Putin and Merkel had expressed concern about the situation in eastern Ukraine. In the past few days there had been repeated reports of Russian troop movements on the border with Ukraine and fighting on the line of demarcation with the pro-Russian separatists.

The two politicians were reportedly also discussing the case of the imprisoned Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny. The human rights organization Amnesty International recently sharply criticized the Kremlin critic’s detention conditions. “Russia, the Russian authorities, may be putting him in a slow death situation and trying to hide what is happening to him,” Amnesty International (AI) general secretary Agnes Callamard told Reuters on Wednesday. Navalny is one of the most prominent critics of the Russian president. He survived a poison attack in Russia in 2020 and received medical treatment in Germany. Upon returning to his home country in January, he was arrested and sentenced to more than two and a half years in prison.

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