Navalny case: Maas enforces demand - EU resolves new sanctions against Russia

The OPCW confirms: Alexei Navalny was the victim of a poison attack with Novichok.

The Kremlin critic is doing better now.

The EU has now decided on sanctions against Russia.

• The

  Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)

  confirmed the previous findings on Tuesday:

  Alexej Navalny *

  was poisoned with a Russian nerve agent.

• Heiko Maas strongly condemns the

  use of chemical weapons

  - which is also seen as a signal against Moscow.

• Kremlin critic Navalny

  thinks he knows the guilty party - and also raises serious accusations against former Chancellor Schröder in the Bild newspaper.

• Gerhard Schröder is

  now suing the newspaper after Navalny’s allegations.

Update October 12, 2020 14:33:

The

brings to the

new

on the way.

The foreign ministers of the EU countries agreed on Monday at a meeting in Luxembourg to begin the necessary preparations, as the

learned from several diplomats.

Navalny case: Maas wants to sanction “certain people” - will the EU now meet Putin personally?

Update from October 12, 2020, 10.02 a.m.:

Foreign Minister

solicited

support for the Franco-German proposal for new

at the

.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has confirmed that the poisoning of the

is a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, he said on Monday.

This cannot be without consequences.

Together with France, Germany has therefore proposed sanctioning “certain people”.

The further procedure should now be determined.

Germany and France

justify their

demands for

by stating that

has not yet complied with requests for a complete investigation of the crime.

The punitive measures are intended to target individuals "who, due to their official function, are considered responsible for this crime and the violation of international legal norms, as well as an institution that is involved in the Novichok program".

However, it is not clear exactly who this is.

Navalny makes violent accusations for the former chancellor: Merkel's GroKo is now serious - the CDU also pokes at Schröder

Update from October 7th, 4:43 pm:

In an interview

on Wednesday

, the

serious allegations against

: Schröder was "Putin's errand boy who protects the murderer," said the

.

also

claimed, without evidence,

that Schroeder was

paid

by

and was therefore no friend of

.

who last said that there were no “certain facts” about the

on

, responded promptly and announced that he would

be suing

the

.

Video: Navalny unpacks about Putin and Schröder

On Tuesday evening had

, however, confirmed that

with

had been poisoned.

This prompted the

Union's

,

to make a clear announcement today in the direction of the Kremlin.

And here, too,

the crosshairs.

Now there is "no longer any doubt that

with the

was poisoned," said Hardt.

This toxin comes from such highly specialized laboratories that it could only

have been procured and manufactured

, he explains.

According to yesterday's knowledge, the

now getting serious: It takes a clear position and demands from the

- based on the “unequivocal facts in the

” - a “closed position towards

” and even “further sanctions”.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) made a similar statement.

CDU / CSU: European Union should sanction Russia as "closed"

The

expects the greatest effect

from “freezing the enormous foreign assets of the Putin nomenklatura”.

Any use of

must be “outlawed” because it “violates the applicable norms of the international community”.

For the "

", as the

in the statement, such a violation should not remain without consequences - many

who opposed "the

"

would have already

paid with their lives for it.

In view of the

Navalny case, the

expects

former

, according to their spokesman Hardt, that he will "seriously deal with the accusation of unilateral partisanship on this issue, which is being put forward from many sides".

The

is concerned about the "

abroad", as it is always

shaped

by the behavior of a resigned

.

like

had - so it says in the declaration - "after the end of their office, the moral duty continues

not to damage

".

+

Gerhard Schröder (r.) And Vladimir Putin (l.) Have a long-standing friendship and business relationship.

(Archival image)

© Alexei Nikolsky / Pool Sputnik Kremlin / AP / dpa / Picture Alliance

Navalny raises violent allegations against Schröder - former Chancellor announces lawsuit

Update from October 7, 2:35 p.m.: Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder

has filed a lawsuit against the

newspaper based on the interview with

.

reports this

, citing Schröder himself. In the interview in question, Navalny calls the

a “Putin's errand boy” and accuses him of having received hidden payments from the Russian president.

However,

could not produce

any evidence for his allegations

.

Gerhard Schröder sued Bild-Zeitung after Navalny interview - personal rights "seriously violated"

Schröder

stated that although he “understood

difficult personal situation”

, he could not leave the statements he made as they were knowingly wrong.

In addition, the

often called for the investigation of

the Novichok neurotoxin

on

in the past

.

The interview in the

newspaper appeared without comment from

, which is why

sees his personal rights "severely violated".

Gerhard Schröder

was Federal Chancellor from 1998 to 2005 before he was replaced by Angela Merkel.

After his political career, the Lower

took on

in the Russian

.

In addition, he is said to have maintained a friendly relationship with Russian

to this day

.

Kremlin critic Navalny sharply attacks former chancellor in interview - "Putin's errand boy"

Original message from October 7th:

Berlin - On Tuesday, the

the poisoning of the Russian

with the

- the German government wanted to know that it was doubly secured, as it had the same test result from a

a few weeks ago

.

According to the federal government,

any

is “a serious process” and “cannot remain without consequences *”.

Video: Maas zu Navalny: "Any use of chemical weapons is completely unacceptable"

The result is spicy not only because it shows that the

actually poisoned, but also because

one of the states that has actually signed a

and thus the use of such weapons is definitely condemnable declared illegal.

It is another cut in the already tense relations between

and

.

In an interview with

,

, who was

treated for

four weeks in an

and is now on the mend, now.

Navalny considers the poisoning attack to be an attempt at psychological intimidation

"My last thought on the plane was that I would die," says

- and looks back on his long recovery from the

.

He was in a

over two weeks

after a medical transport plane

had flown him

from

at the request of his family

.

He could

not leave

his room at the

28 days

.

He even

received a visit here

from

, who is still very interested in the state of the Russian opposition leader.

Despite all the suffering that happened to them who plan

by

back - the

wants the

also not hang up: "I am a Russian politician, a Russian citizen.

I believe that I am doing something important and many people in

support me, ”he says of the

.

The

sees the

targeted

on his person

not only as a

, but also as a

at

on the part of the Kremlin against all dissenting Russian citizens.

Never in his life would he have thought that the government would go so far as

to poison

him, "a civilian", with a

:

If it weren't for the clear results from the Bundeswehr laboratory and the French and Swedish laboratories, I wouldn't believe it myself.

(...) To deny that I was poisoned with Novitschok is like denying chemistry itself.

We learned from Putin's regime that things have really gone nuts now. 

Alexei Navalny

Nevertheless:

firmly believes in a

, because sympathy for

and his party "United Russia" is falling sharply *: "If there were fair elections tomorrow, we would beat Putin." But Putin is crazy about power and money - and do everything possible to stay in power.

So evaluates

his

, after all the previous

, as a "last attempt to do something about," was

at this time but shortly before the elections and had the

to fight.

In addition,

widely ramified.

The former

, who works for “

”

among other things

, was not convinced until the end that the cause of

collapse during the election campaign was a

.

The

regards the

fact that the

in the

case as “speculation”.

Even after the

had confirmed

the results of the

on Tuesday

,

the

dismissed

all accusations and described them as "politically involved".

Navalny: "I have no doubt that Schröder will get hidden payments"

According to

, it would be degrading for the German people, especially for the

, if

still denied

the

.

“Have the laboratories falsified the results of their investigation?” He asks

rhetorically in a picture interview.

His opinion of the

is clear:

paid

by

* - and it is one thing to be

, but now Schröder is trying

to protect

.

Navalny therefore finds the former Chancellor's words “humiliating”.

“It's very difficult for me to understand.

After all, he is the

the

.

Now

Putin's errand boy who protects murderers, ”says

and raises even more serious allegations against

.

This is officially

paid

by

, and Navalny has no doubt that "hidden payments" are also flowing.

As a

, he

investigated

corporations such as “

” and “

” for years and knew what he was talking about.

В интервью @BILD сказал всё, что думаю о бывшем канцлере Шрёдере, превратившимся в путинского платного мальчика на побегушках и позорящего свою страну https://t.co/cdlFTV7oMV pic.twitter.com/f3B5RG5J3L

- Alexey Navalny (@navalny) October 7, 2020

Schröder

and other

repeatedly emphasize their friendly relationship with

.

"Friends of Russia" would

not

be people like

, says

in an interview with

, if they would steal the money of the Russian people, embezzle it and

keep

the

so poor:

“I want people in Russia to have just as much access to medical care as I do at the Charité.

But not even the richest people in Russia have this access because there are no such hospitals.

And why not?

Because of Putin and his friends, people like Gerhard Schröder. 

Alexei Navalny

For the

,

however

, the

breaks

a lance: “I understand that as a

not much you can do if a

poisoned

.

But what is also important for the West is the use of a

The

investigate. ”While

does not even try to investigate the background,

acted correctly

after the poison attack on him, a

.

OPCW investigation gives Navalny hope

The

analysis

would be important to

deter

a

from using

against its opponents

internationally

.

After all, the 44-year-old

is certain that the attack on

was an attempted murder.

“I'm not naive.

I believe that this was a

and

I do

n't expect there will ever be a real investigation. "At least not in Russia - but other nations might deter those responsible from continuing to kill, * so

hope.