In a sign of growing frustration over Berlin's stoning over Moscow's stoning over the poisoning of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, Chancellor Angela Merkel's office indicated on Monday that it would reconsider the fate of the German-Russian gas pipeline project. Are willing to
Navalny, a
fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was flown’ to Germany on
August 22, two days after falling ill on a domestic flight to Russia. German
chemical weapons experts say tests show that Navalny was poisoned’ with a
Soviet-era nerve agent, which last week called on the German government to
investigate the matter.
German
Foreign Minister Heiko Moss said in an interview on Sunday that the Russian
response could determine whether Germany replaces long-standing support for the
Nord stream 2 pipeline.
"The
chancellor also thinks it's wrong to dismiss anything," Moss spokesman Steffen
Seibert told reporters after being asked about Moss's comments. Earlier, Merkel
called for "doping" the Navalny case over the pipeline project, which
the US president strongly opposes.
In early
August, three Republican senators threatened sanctions against the operator of
the Baltic Sea port in Merkel's parliamentary constituency over the role of the
staging post of ships involved in the construction of Nord Stream 2.
Germany
announced that samples taken from Navalny showed clear evidence that he had
been poisoned by a substance from the Novichok group. Seibert warned that it
was too early to expect Moscow to respond in a few days, but said Berlin wanted
an answer soon.
"I
can't express a clear, limited time expectation, except that we're not talking
about months or the end of the year," he said.
Russia has
denied the allegations in a statement issued Friday stating, "Similar,
baseless allegations concerning Russia's intelligence have been made more than
once.
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