Foreign Minister Maas said in the Bundestag that Russia has not provided credible answers to questions about what happened to Navalny.
Together with his French colleague Le Drian, Maas later stated that there is no explanation for the poisoning other than that Russia was involved and bears responsibility for it.
Alexei Navalny, President Putin’s most outspoken critic, was admitted to a hospital in Berlin in August after falling ill in Russia. His spokesman’s statement that he had been poisoned was later confirmed by several laboratories in the West. Navalny is now in recovery and plans to return to Russia when he feels better.
Sanctions against the Secret Service
According to diplomats, France and Germany will propose next week to other EU foreign ministers to take punitive measures against senior officials of the military security service GROe.
Navalny himself said in an interview with the German newspaper Bild that sanctions “against Russia” have no effect. “The most important thing is to deny the regime’s profiteers access to the EU and freeze their assets,” said the opposition leader. As an example, he cited the world-famous Russian conductor Valeri Gergiev, who is known as a sympathizer of President Putin.
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