Brussels Reporter
  • Home
  • Brussels
  • Europe
    • Europe

      UK bans arrivals from South America and Portugal…

      January 15, 2021January 15, 2021

      Europe

      Slovenia resumes funding for national press agency after…

      January 14, 2021January 14, 2021

      Europe

      Inger Støjberg: Denmark’s ex-immigration minister set to face…

      January 14, 2021January 15, 2021

      Europe

      France imposes nationwide 6 pm curfew

      January 14, 2021

      Europe

      ‘Curtains of death’: Nets designed to protect swimmers…

      January 14, 2021January 14, 2021

  • Globe
  • Lifestyle
  • Business

Brussels Reporter

  • Home
  • Brussels
  • Europe
    • Europe

      UK bans arrivals from South America and Portugal…

      January 15, 2021January 15, 2021

      Europe

      Slovenia resumes funding for national press agency after…

      January 14, 2021January 14, 2021

      Europe

      Inger Støjberg: Denmark’s ex-immigration minister set to face…

      January 14, 2021January 15, 2021

      Europe

      France imposes nationwide 6 pm curfew

      January 14, 2021

      Europe

      ‘Curtains of death’: Nets designed to protect swimmers…

      January 14, 2021January 14, 2021

  • Globe
  • Lifestyle
  • Business
Home Europe Merkel demands tougher EU response to poisoning of Russian opposition leader
EuropeFeatured

Merkel demands tougher EU response to poisoning of Russian opposition leader

by editor August 28, 2020
August 28, 2020

BERLIN — Angela Merkel demanded a joint EU reaction to the poisoning of Russia opposition leader Alexei Navalny, saying the bloc must produce a similar response to the aftermath of the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal in the U.K. 2018. But the German chancellor said the case should not impact on the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.

Navalny remains in a medically induced coma in a Berlin hospital after falling ill on a flight to Moscow last week. Doctors there said he had been poisoned with a substance that affects the central nervous system.

The German chancellor advocated a collective European reaction to the case in her annual summer press conference in the German capital. “I believe that we have the duty to do everything possible to enlighten this … Now we will try to bring about enlightenment with our possibilities, which are indeed limited. And we will also try, when we have more clarity about the background, to have a European reaction similar to Mr. Skripal, not only national reactions. It is not only a German problem, even if Germany has now admitted Mr. Navalny,” she told reporters Friday.

In the Skripal case, the British government blamed Russian agents for poisoning the former Russian spy and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury using the sophisticated nerve agent Novichok. The U.S. and 17 EU countries (including the U.K.) expelled a total of over 100 Russian diplomats in response to the attempted killings. In evoking the Skripal case, it was not immediately clear whether Merkel was advocating a similarly robust diplomatic response against Russia.

So far EU countries have condemned the alleged poisoning and called for transparency from Russia but have yet to announce sanctions or any other concrete action.

Merkel though was adamant that the case should not impact on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, an undersea conduit under the Baltic that will bring gas from Russia to Germany. The project has been criticized by the U.S. and Germany’s Eastern neighbours.

“I think that we should see [the Navalny case] decoupled from that. Our opinion is that Nord Stream 2 should be completed,” said Merkel, “After all, this is a project that is being driven by economic players from Russia and Europe. This means that although it has political implications — which is why we have also advocated and will continue to advocate a transit agreement for gas supplies between Russia and Ukraine — I do not think it is appropriate to link this economically driven project with the Navalny issue.”

Source link

previous post
Ancienne Belgique reopens its doors on 11/9
next post
Flavio Briatore: “I was the one of the best”

Related Posts

Tech giants Facebook, Amazon, Google and Apple face...

July 29, 2020

US Democrats brace for pre-Christmas deadline crash

December 7, 2019

Belgian PM Wilmès: Now is not the time...

July 19, 2020

Are individual acts of defiance replacing mass protests...

December 14, 2020

UK hardens rhetoric ahead of trade talks with...

February 3, 2020

Senior Portuguese diplomat named EU’s ambassador to UK

January 10, 2020

UK foreign secretary: Britain wants trade deal with...

February 9, 2020

Watch: Explosives bring smokestack crashing to the ground

December 4, 2020

Mafia on the hunt for coronavirus vaccines, say...

January 6, 2021

Juventus could force COVID-19-hit Napoli to forfeit match...

October 3, 2020
Promotion Image

Recent Posts

  • Dutch Rutte government resigns over child welfare fraud scandal
  • UK bans arrivals from South America and Portugal over new COVID variant
  • NYC bendy bus left dangling from overpass in Bronx
  • Biden unveils $1.9tn US economic relief package
  • Covid-19: France PM Castex announces tighter curfew
Promotion Image

GO!

Instagram

No images found!
Try some other hashtag or username

Lifestyle

  • Keeping the country in Europe cost Syriza power

  • The populist surge that did not happen

  • Can Europe avoid the coming crisis?

  • Green country went even greener

  • The Social democrats’ comeback

Popular Posts

  • 1

    Beware of scammING. Dirty money of famous bank

    October 6, 2020
  • 2

    The death of the city

    July 27, 2020
  • 3

    From Strasbourg to Stirling: An MEP aims to switch parliaments

    December 11, 2019

Editor’s Choices

  • Can Europe avoid the coming crisis?

    August 26, 2019
  • Avoiding a repeat performance of the financial crisis

    July 14, 2019
  • The EU’s next big challenge

    June 11, 2019

Opinions

  • Keeping the country in Europe cost Syriza power

    August 28, 2019
  • The populist surge that did not happen

    August 27, 2019
  • Can Europe avoid the coming crisis?

    August 26, 2019

@2018-2020 - Brussels Reporter (www.brusselsreporter.com). All Right Reserved.