German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Monday that the council of foreign ministers of the European Union would be discussing introduction of sanctions against Russia over the alleged poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, claiming violation of the International Chemical Weapons Convention
BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2020) German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Monday that the council of foreign ministers of the European Union would be discussing introduction of sanctions against Russia over the alleged poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, claiming violation of the International Chemical Weapons Convention.
"Today the council will discuss new circumstances in the Navalny case. The International Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons [OPCW] has confirmed the studies of Swedish, French and our own laboratories. It has been objectively established that this was a violation of the International Chemical Weapons Convention which cannot remain without consequences," Maas said.
He recalled that Berlin and Paris proposed to the EU Council on Monday to consider "adding certain people to the sanction lists who had expressed themselves in this regard."
Navalny fell ill during a domestic flight in Russia on August 20. He was initially treated in the Siberian city of Omsk, where the plane made an emergency landing. Two days later, when doctors determined that he was fit for cross-border aerial transportation, the 44-year-old was flown to Germany for further treatment.
Days later, on September 2, the German government claimed that samples taken from Navalny contained traces of a nerve agent from the Novichok group. Earlier tests conducted in Russia did not show any traces of the poison.
Russia has demanded that Germany provide evidence and make the case materials available to Russian investigators. The OPCW earlier in October found in Navalny's system traces of a toxin, which was not in the OPCW's registry of prohibited chemicals.
In a recent interview with the German Spiegel news magazine, Navalny accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind his alleged poisoning. The Kremlin called his statement "extremely insulting and unacceptable."
