Showing that the European has no guts when it comes Russia, 54-year-old German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the European Union was considering sanctions against the Russian Federation for Aug. 20 Novichok poisoning of 44-year-old Russian opposition leader Alexi Navalny. Navalny, who’s been discharged from the Berlin hospital, blames 67-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin for his poisoning in the Tomsk airport, before a return flight from Siberia to Moscow. Navalny’s flight was forced to land in Omsk where he was treated briefly and airlifted to Berlin’s Charite Hospital where he stayed in a medically induced coma while receiving an antidote for Novichok poisoning. Nalvalny’s Novichok poinsoning was confirmed in German. French and Swedish labs, with results pending at the Hague, Netherlands. Putin and the Kremlin have denied any involvement.
Recovering from his poisoning episode outside the hospital, Navalny told Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine that he though Putin was behind his poisoning. “Putin was behind the attack,” Navalny told Der Spiegel. Navalny also confessed he plans to return to Russia when he recovers more from the Novichok poisoning. “I don’t have any other versions of how the crime was committed,” Navalny told Der Spiegel, putting an even bigger target on his back now that he’s denounced Putin. De Spiegel reported that Navalny displays Parkinson’s-like symptoms with his hands still shaking violently, from the ongoing nerve damage. Putin demanded that Germany turn over any toxicology reports to Russia before he’s willing to take Navalny’s poisoning seriously. Germany’s 66-year-old Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Putin to respond openly to Navalny’s charges of Novichok poisoning.
Putin continues the same denials he gave when 69-year-old former Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal and his 36-year-old daughter fell ill from Novichokj poisoning March 4 in Salisbury, U.K. Putin continues his denials, despite the fact that no country other that Russia possesses the Soviet-era nerve agent other than Russia. Merkel demanded that Putin level with the EU as to how Mr. Navalny, Russia’s recognized opposition leader, fell ill Aug. 20, requiring emergency medical treatment. Putin’s stonewalling led to Maas to push for EU sanctions, despite the EU’s strong energy dependence on the Russian Federation. EU receives some 80% of its natural gas from the Russian Federation, so much so that Russian and German decided to build the Nordstream 2 pipeline currently under construction with some 15 German contractors, employing thousands of workers.
President Donald Trump warned Merkel about Germany’s growing dependence on the Kremlin for its energy needs. “I am convinced that there will be no longer any way around sanctions,” Maas told t-portal online. Whatever sanctions Germany or the EU contemplates, they won’t involve completing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. “Sanctions must always be targeted and proportionate. But such a grave violation of the International Chemical Weapons Convention cannot be left unanswered. On this, we’re united in Europe,” Maas said. But no one in the EU, certainly not Germany, is willing to rock-the-boat with the Kremlin, especially over supplying petroleum and natural gas. Whatever sanctions the EU considers at is next summit Oct. 15-16, it certainly won’t have any impact on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Germany certainly has too much vested interest in getting cheap natural gas from Russia to rock-the-boat
Pretending to sanction Moscow without any real teeth shows the extent of EU dependence on Russia for its energy. “If the result of the German, Swedish and French laboratories is confirmed, there will be a clear response form the EU. I’m sure about that,” Maas said, referring to sanctions against Moscow. Putin has demanded that the EU turn over its evidence to the Russian Federation, something not necessary because Russian medical authorities took their own samples in Omsk where Navalny was first taken after falling ill in Tomsk. Maas knows that there’s little the EU can do to force Putin to confess about his role in Navalny’s poisoning. Navalny knows the extent of Putin’s involvement in his poisoning, putting his life in danger if he decides eventually to return to the Russian Federation. Navalny admitted to drinking Novichok-laced tea at the Tomnk airport in Siberia.
German authorities know that they limited options when it comes to sanctioning the Kremlin in response to Navalny’s alleged Novichok poisoning. With the Nord Stream 2 steaming along toward completion, there’s little teeth the EU can put into economic sanctions. If Putin turned off the spigot to Germany, the EU ‘s most prosperous economy would take a major hit. Whatever happened to Navalny or the Skripals with Novichok, there’s just noting practical the EU can do to stop Putn from future poisoning episodes, including finishing off Navalny when her returns to the Russian Federation. “So many European workers would suffer from a construction freeze,” said Maas, referring to shutting down the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. Whatever sanctions the EU concocts for Moscow, it’s doubtful that it’ll have any deterrent value on the Russian Federation.
