Berlin: No Way to Avoid Russia Sanctions if OPCW Confirms Germany’s Assessment of Navalny Incident

It will be impossible to avoid introducing new sanctions against Russia if the OPCW confirms the German military’s assessment on Alexei Navalny’s suspected poisoning, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has announced.

“If the results of the German, Swedish and French laboratories are confirmed, there will be a clear response from the European Union,” Maas said, speaking to online news portal t-online in an interview published Saturday.

“I am convinced that in that case sanctions will be impossible to avoid,” the foreign minister added.

Asked which individuals or entities such new sanctions would target, Maas said that they must be “targeted and proportionate.”

“But such a grave violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention cannot go unanswered. We agree on that in Europe,” he added.