AfD Lawmaker Says German Gov't Lacks Any Interest In Navalny Case Investigation

BERLIN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th November, 2020) The Navalny case has been designed to raise tensions between Moscow and Berlin, and allowed the US to oppose the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project more intensively, so the German Government has almost no interest in the incident's investigation, Anton Friesen, a member of the German parliament's foreign affairs committee from the rightist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, told Sputnik on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the AfD party requested that the German government state whether it was aware that the Cinema for Peace Foundation, which sponsored Navalny's transportation to Berlin, allowed Alexei Navalny's supporters to take a contaminated bottle of water, which was allegedly used to poison Navalny, to Germany. The government replied that it did not possess any information on the issue.

"I can come to the only conclusion: the Navalny case has been used for serious deterioration of the German- Russian relations. It has created no nuisance to the US, as, in this way, it has significantly approached to its aim to prevent the Nord Stream 2. This Federal government takes almost no interest in the investigation," Friesen said.

German-Russian relations soured when in late August, Navalny was hospitalized in the Russian city of Omsk after he lost consciousness during a flight to Moscow. Though the opposition figure's team suspected he had been poisoned, Russian specialists did not find any traces of toxins in Navalny's blood and stated that the reason for his poor condition was a metabolic disorder. However, Germany insisted on the transportation of Navalny to the Charite clinic in Berlin, after which it was announced by the EU countries that Navalny was allegedly poisoned by a nerve agent from the Novichok family of toxins.

Following Navalny's illness, the European Union imposed sanctions on six Russian officials it suspected of involvement in the incident. Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the alleged poisoning of the opposition activist. Moscow also insisted that Berlin had yet to reply to requests for Russia's legal assistance regarding Navalny's case. The incident was also used by the US to justify its pressure on the EU countries to force them to give up the Nord Stream 2 project.