The ongoing affair involving Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, who Berlin claims was poisoned with a nerve agent of the Novichok group, could have an impact on the completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Steffen Kotre, the spokesman for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the Bundestag Economic Affairs and Energy Committee, told Sputnik on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th September, 2020) The ongoing affair involving Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, who Berlin claims was poisoned with a nerve agent of the Novichok group, could have an impact on the completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Steffen Kotre, the spokesman for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the Bundestag Economic Affairs and Energy Committee, told Sputnik on Friday.
"It is ... entirely possible that, contrary to German interests, Nord Stream 2 will be torpedoed or further sanctions will be imposed to the harm of Germany," Kotre stated.
According to the AfD lawmaker, certain political groups in Germany have been looking for an opportunity to stoke tensions between Berlin and Moscow, adding that the full facts surrounding the opposition figure's situation needed to be disclosed.
"I think that is likely because political forces in Germany unfriendly to Russia are just waiting to torpedo relations between the two countries, to the detriment of Germany and Russia. This is why it is so important that all information and evidence available to the Federal government be disclosed. In Germany, unpatriotic political forces that divide society and damage the economy have gained the upper hand," Kotre remarked.
Nord Stream 2 is a planned 745-mile-long twin gas pipeline, which is expected to deliver Russian gas to Europe. The project, which has been the target of pressure from Washington, is a joint enterprise between Russia's Gazprom and five European energy companies, including Germany's Uniper and Wintershall.
Navalny is currently receiving treatment in Berlin after falling ill in late August while on a flight from the Siberian city of Tomsk to Moscow. On Wednesday, the German government issued a press release saying that laboratory analysis of samples taken from Navalny revealed that the opposition figure had a substance from the Novichok group in his system.
Russian doctors in the city of Omsk, who first treated Navalny, found no traces of poison in his system. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that Moscow is interested in clarifying all the circumstances surrounding Navalny's illness.
