As of: February 19, 2024, 5:06 p.m
Comments
Press
Split
Demonstrators gather with signs in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin after the death of Alexei Navalny.
© Kay Nietfeld/dpa
Berlin has summoned the Russian ambassador over the death of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
Russian diplomats reject allegations as inappropriate interference.
Berlin - Russia has rejected Germany's call to investigate the death of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny as interference in internal affairs.
“German representatives have been informed that this situation is an exclusively internal matter of the Russian side, which, as already stated, will conduct a proper professional investigation in such cases,” the Russian embassy in Berlin wrote on Telegram.
At the same time, the authority confirmed that Ambassador Sergei Nechaev had been summoned to the German Foreign Ministry.
At the meeting he presented the Russian perspective on the case.
The embassy claimed that the West was using the death of the opposition politician to stir up anti-Russian sentiment.
Navalny died on Friday at the age of 47 in a prison camp in the far north of Siberia.
Berlin demands clarification of the circumstances of the death
A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said that the politically motivated trial against Navalny as well as that against numerous other critics of the Russian government and the inhumane prison conditions show how brutally the Russian justice system acts against dissidents and the means with which President Vladimir Putin suppresses freedom of expression in Russia.
“We condemn this in the strongest possible terms and expressly call for the release of all those imprisoned in Russia for political reasons.”
The federal government called on Russia to fully clarify the circumstances of Navalny's death in a Siberian prison camp and also to release the body to the family, as government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said.
In addition, impunity-free commemoration should be the minimum.
Von der Leyen and Merz assume that the killing was targeted
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke to Navalny's widow at the Munich Security Conference and she described very impressively that Navalny took part in a hearing via a video link the day before the start of the Munich Security Conference, said von der Leyen in Berlin on the sidelines of a CDU board meeting.
He was joking and it was clear that he was doing well.
Julia Navalnaya also pointed out that her husband was only 47 years old and healthy.
My news
Traffic light is annoyed with “King Söder”: Baerbock says read breakfast at the security conference
Bulwark against Putin fallen: Chaos retreat from Avdiivka - Ukrainians probably let soldiers read back
Payment card for asylum seekers: Habeck causes the next dispute - Kubicki threatens to break the traffic light
After Navalny's death: Putin's top propagandist blames the West for reading
2 hours ago
“Unspeakable statement”: ZDF report about Habeck makes Greens read furiously
Survey earthquake for the AfD: Right-wingers are slipping – Wagenknecht marches off read
“Your statements have once again confirmed very clearly that he was deliberately murdered,” added von der Leyen.
This shows the ruthlessness and perfidy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, for whom “really no human life” counts for anything.
With Navalny's death, he tried to get his message across at the Munich Security Conference.
Putin is trying to destabilize and undermine Western democracies.
CDU leader Merz said: “None of us saw it as a coincidence that the news arrived in Munich on Friday morning that Alexei Navalny, the most prominent critic and opposition politician in Russia, had died that day.
We all firmly assume that this was a clear order from the Russian President.”
The clear message is that Putin does what he wants and that human lives don't matter to him.
Navalny has been imprisoned since 2021
It had previously become known that Germany and other EU states wanted to introduce further sanctions against Russia after Navalny's death.
A special EU sanctions instrument should be used to punish serious human rights violations, explained Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) at the start of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
Navalny died in Russian camp custody.
His death was confirmed on Saturday by his spokeswoman.
The Russian penal system had previously informed about Navalny's death, who had been imprisoned since 2021.
dpa