Merkel says response to Russia over poisoning of dissident must be European
German Chancellor Angela Merkel intends to coordinate any action against Russia over the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny with European partners, ruling out a unilateral response.
Merkel made the comments Tuesday at a closed-door meeting of her Christian Democratic-led parliamentary caucus in Berlin, according to an official who asked not to be identified in line with briefing rules. She stressed that the chemical attack on Navalny wasn't directed toward Germany and is therefore an issue for the whole European Union.
As exasperation with Russian President Vladimir Putin's government reaches its limits in Berlin, Merkel broke with her previous position this week and opened the door to possible action against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, a change of stance after recently calling for the project to be completed and treated separately from the Navalny case.
In the meeting, she indicated that she hasn't made a final decision on whether the controversial Baltic Sea pipeline from Russia will be affected by any action against Moscow, the official said.
Her thinking shifted after German military specialists determined last week that Navalny had been poisoned by Novichok, a Russian-developed nerve agent.
"Navalny has been poisoned, this is definitely clear -- and this is something that we will not accept," Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday at a Bloomberg online event. "It's against all the legal ideas we have."
Scholz, Germany's finance minister, reiterated Merkel's comments, saying that Germany will work with EU and NATO partners to develop a response to Moscow - and declined to say whether he supported the pipeline project.
Russia, meanwhile, stuck to its hard line despite the German government's growing impatience. Nord Stream 2, which will double the capacity for gas deliveries to Germany, has long been a top priority for the Kremlin and Moscow still sees no risk that Berlin will stop the pipeline.
"There's no basis to consider this issue on the political level," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.
The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the German ambassador and demanded he turn over all evidence that Navalny was poisoned, according to spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
"It's time to show your cards," Zakharova wrote on Facebook Tuesday. "Berlin is bluffing in the service of a dirty political commotion.
Russia says it found no evidence Navalny was poisoned after he became ill during a flight to Moscow from Siberia, where he had been rallying opposition supporters ahead of this month's regional elections. It so far hasn't opened a formal criminal probe into the case, despite Merkel's calls for a full investigation.
The Kremlin critic began waking from a medically induced coma in a hospital in Berlin, the medical team said on Monday.
A top medical official in the Siberian region where Navalny was initially treated before being sent to Germany challenged Berlin's account of his illness Tuesday.
The cause "definitely wasn't Novichok, there are no signs of poisoning," Alexander Sabayev said, according to the state-run RIA Novosti news service. "This wasn't a poisoning at all. It's an illness," he said, reiterating Russian assertions that Navalny suffered from a "metabolic disorder."