MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th September, 2020) The European Union's sanctions against Russia because of the situation with Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny is not a matter of tomorrow, Russia's Permanent Representative to the EU Vladimir Chizhov told the Solovyov Live channel.
"I think that this is not a question of tomorrow. I think the issue will be the subject of sufficiently, I hope, substantive internal discussions. I am not inclined to make any predictions," the diplomat said.
On August 20, Navalny fell ill during a domestic Russian flight. He was initially treated in the Siberian city of Omsk, where the plane made an emergency landing. Two days later, once the doctors established he was fit for cross-border aerial transportation, the man was flown to the Charite hospital in Germany for further treatment.
Later, the German government said doctors had found traces of a nerve agent from the Novichok group in his system. Moscow responded by pointing out the lack of evidence in Berlin's claims and noting that Russian doctors had found no toxic substances in Navalny.
Charite reported September 7 that Navalny's condition had improved, he had been taken out of a coma and disconnected from the ventilator.
The alleged poisoning of Navalny prompted many European officials to call for imposing additional sanctions on Russia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said Moscow will respond reciprocally if the Western countries impose new sanctions over the Navalny case.
