The Kremlin does it as always: denial and maximum confusion.
The Chancellor must not put up with that.
A comment by Merkur editor-in-chief Georg Anastasiadis.
Munich - When it comes to
Russia
, the Germans, who otherwise like to apply the strictest moral standards to themselves and others, are suddenly surprisingly understanding.
Psychologically, this can be explained: the neighbor in the east bursting with nuclear missiles is scary;
the fear is mixed with the feeling of guilt of
having invaded Russia in World War II
and with some Ostalgic memories of the GDR occupation.
Navalny case: Merkel has shown consideration for a long time - she cannot ignore this escalation
The
Chancellor
, who speaks fluent Russian herself, took this mood into account for a long time and stoically looked the other way when Putin had the civilian population bombed in Syria.
The Germans also looked the other way when the murder was more and more unabashedly in
Putin's secret service state
, and when the outcry failed to materialize, also in England and in the Berlin zoo.
+
Georg Anastasiadis
© Marcus sleep
Whether this was done on the orders of the Kremlin, with its approval or tolerance, will probably never be clear.
One thing is certain, however: a regime that denies its citizens the most elementary norms of civic life cannot be trusted in external relations either.
The attack on Russia's leaders in the opposition with the
state poison Novichok
means an escalation that even the patient Chancellor could no longer ignore without losing face as the leader of the free world.
Navalny: Is Merkel Germany surrendering morally to the Putin system?
Moscow's infamous suspicion that Navalny was poisoned in Berlin because he only left Russia with a metabolic disease follows the usual
confusion tactic
and shows how little the Kremlin is willing to
cooperate
in the promised clarification of the case.
That is a slap in the face also of all those who in this country, in the SPD and elsewhere, continue to
dream
of a new
"security partnership" with Russia
and without the USA.
Berlin must find a fundamentally new way of dealing with Moscow.
It must
drive up
the
price of the Kremlin's
abuses and no longer reward them.
Even the construction of the Baltic Sea gas pipeline was a security mistake.
However, putting it into operation would now be the symbol that
Merkel Germany surrenders morally to the Putin system
.