Berlin May Introduce New Sanctions Against Russia Over Khangoshvili Murder - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st December, 2020) Germany may impose new sanctions against Russia over the murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a Georgian national with alleged ties to terrorist groups, who was gunned down in Berlin last year, the Der Spiegel magazine reported on Monday, citing government sources.

According to the German news outlet, Berlin does not currently plan to impose sanctions on Moscow over the recently published investigation regarding the alleged poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny.

However, the governmental circles say that Berlin does want to cooperate with the European partners and impose sanctions on Moscow no later than the announcement of a court sentence in the Khangoshvili case, which is expected to take place in Berlin in March.

Khangoshvili was shot in the Tiergarten park in Berlin in August 2019. A hearing on the case began this past October. German investigators claimed that the suspect, a Russian national, had been ordered to murder Khangoshvili by Russian governmental agencies. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow had discussed the extradition of Khangoshvili with Berlin informally, but the request was denied.

Per Sputnik sources in the Russian security agencies, Khangoshvili was an active participant of the terrorist underground in the Northern Caucasus and was involved in organizing the school siege in the Russian city of Beslan in 2004, which resulted in the deaths of 334 people, including 186 children, and other terrorist attacks in the country.