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Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov: reaction "because Germany was the locomotive for EU sanctions"
Photo:
Russian Foreign Ministry Press O / imago images / ITAR-TASS
Russia wants to respond to the EU's punitive measures with sanctions against government officials in Germany and France.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this at an online press conference in Moscow.
"These sanctions are directed against senior staff in the management apparatus in Germany and France," Lavrov said.
At first he did not give details or names.
FSB boss affected by EU sanctions
In October, the EU imposed punitive measures on selected Russian officials in response to the poison attack allegedly carried out by Russia against the Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny.
Among other things, the head of the was affected
powerful domestic intelligence service FSB, Alexander Bortnikow, and other confidants of President Vladimir Putin.
(Read more about which top Russian officials were affected here.)
"Because Germany was the locomotive for the EU sanctions in connection with Navalny and because the sanctions affect senior staff in the Russian presidential administration, we will reflect this with our reaction," Lavrov said.
The German and French colleagues will soon be given more details.
According to the federal government, Navalny was poisoned with a neurotoxin from the Novitschok group.
This diagnosis has been confirmed by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Navalny himself also accuses Putin of being the mastermind behind the attack.
According to the EU, the poison attack on Navalny could not have taken place without the knowledge and approval of Russian government agencies.
Navalny for further treatment in Germany
Lavrov, on the other hand, said on Thursday, without citing any evidence, that Moscow had "reason to believe" that the neurotoxin only got into Navalny's nervous system when it was transported to Berlin by plane or had already been in Germany.
Nawalny's spokeswoman dismissed the assumption that he could have been poisoned in Germany as "the most idiotic of them all".
The opposition member is still in Germany for treatment, but has announced that he will return to Russia after his full recovery.
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fek / dpa / Reuters / AFP