The situation in the morning: Chancellor's declaration of war

A turning point in relation to Russia?

That

the Russian President to do everything is nothing new.

The Chancellor has been

dealing

with

for too

long to have

escaped her notice: this man has no scruples. 

And yet Merkel had mostly imposed restraint in dealing with the ruler in the Kremlin, preferring to use critical tones cautiously: You need Russia as a political and economic partner.

Icon: enlarge

Merkel, Putin (in January 2020 in the Kremlin)

Photo: SERGEY GUNEEV / SPUTNIK / KREMLIN / POOL / EPA-EFE / REX

According to these standards, Wednesday afternoon marked a turning point.

The Chancellor herself commented that there is now certainty:

was poisoned with a nerve agent.

Merkel condemned the "attempted poisoning" of the Russian opposition activist, who was directed "against the fundamental values ​​and rights for which we stand," "in the very strongest possible terms".

The world is waiting for answers from Moscow, the EU and NATO would - waiting for Russia's submissions - "decide on an appropriate joint reaction".

Merkel took out the large cutlery.

Germany had already made the case a political issue when Navalny was accepted for medical treatment, now the Chancellor is assuming the role of

and threatening Moscow with punitive measures.

Of course, the Kremlin politely guarantees "full cooperation".

But what it looks like, Germany was last able to experience the Berlin zoo murder.

In the Navalny case, too, the Russian side has long since begun to sow doubts about the German investigation results.

Moscow has no interest in the truth.

Merkel, however, will have to be measured by her remarkable appearance,

.

Best united on behalf of the European Union and NATO.

Otherwise Germany will have to do it alone.

It is unlikely that Putin will be impressed by this.

But you shouldn't give him the opportunity to be satisfied if nothing happens in the end.

• Attack on Putin's fearsome opponent: the Navalny plot

Judgment in the Kuciak murder trial

The murder in February 2018 not only shook little Slovakia, but all of Europe.

A killer shot the investigative

and his fiancée

in the village of Velka Maca near Bratislava

.

Icon: enlarge

Defendant Kocner

Photo: 

Jaroslav Nov k / dpa

It quickly became apparent: Kuciak was

on the trail of

the crooked business of the oligarch

.

Because he is said to have hired the murderer, he will be tried.

Today the verdict is due.

In addition to the entrepreneur, an alleged organizer and an ex-police officer accused of complicity are also charged.

The prosecutor has demanded 25 years in prison for each of the three defendants.

The shooter had already been sentenced to 23 years in prison in April.

The investigation revealed how closely the economy, politics and the demi-world were intertwined in Slovakia.

Kocner had judges in hand and excellent contacts up to the government.

Revelations of corruption and mass protests ultimately led to the

and a dramatic shift in power in the country.

"With today's judgment," says SPIEGEL Eastern Europe expert Jan Puhl, "the Slovak judiciary can prove whether it can defend the legacy of 1989, democracy and the rule of law."

• Power shift in Slovakia: "We got rid of the mafia"

The neverending Kohl story

The next act in the long and bitter dispute over

.

The

ruling today on a lawsuit from

: The widow of the former chancellor wants to know whether his former ghostwriter

still has tapes, copies or transcripts of the conversations and meeting minutes with her husband.

If so - which is likely - it will ask for them to be released.

Icon: enlarge

Maike Kohl-Richter (in February 2018 at the Cologne Higher Regional Court)

Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd / DPA

Kohl once spoke to Schwan for more than 600 hours, that was in 2001 and 2002, the conversations were to become the basis for Kohl's memoir.

Three volumes appeared, then the former chancellor fell out with his ghostwriter.

Schwan nevertheless published a fourth book - without the protagonist's blessing: "Legacy: The Kohl Protocols".

Since then, the case has occupied the judiciary, since the death of the former chancellor in 2017, Maike Kohl-Richter has continued the

.

Even after the verdict this Tuesday, this fight is not over.

Also before the BGH, the hearing about the

, which the Cologne Regional Court had awarded Kohl for violating his personal rights, is still pending.

When Kohl died shortly afterwards, the judgment was not yet final, the next instance decided that Kohl's widow was not entitled to the record compensation for her husband.

Maike Kohl-Richter does not want to accept that.

The neverending Kohl story continues.

• Maike Kohl-Richter and Helmut Kohl: His life, their life

Winner of the day ...

Icon: enlarge Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa

... is

For months, the CDU politician, who would like to become party chairman, fought for attention against the Corona omnipresence of Armin Laschet and the favorite status of Friedrich Merz.

Röttgen's expertise as a foreign policy expert in the Navalny case is now in great demand again.

So much so that he was asked about it on Wednesday evening at the same time on ARD and ZDF - in the "Tagesthemen" and in "heute journal".

The broadcast on ZDF started exceptionally half an hour late and started at the same time as the ARD counterpart.

As the saying goes: "We recorded the conversation before the broadcast."

The latest news from the night

• Why children in affluent countries are unhappy:

  Overweight, educational gaps, loneliness: even in affluent industrialized countries, children have to struggle with many problems - which could be exacerbated by the corona crisis

• Trump threatens democratic cities with withdrawal of money

  : During the election campaign, the US president escalates the dispute over "law-and-order" measures: He wants allegedly to cut subsidies from "lawless" cities.

  The metropolises on his list have one thing in common

• "The plug must now be pulled for the guarantors of the Putin system":

  The EU is struggling to react to the new findings on Alexei Navalny.

  The Greens and the FDP are calling for the German government to immediately punish Russian oligarchs who are loyal to Putin

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Have a good day.

Heartily,

Your Philipp Wittrock