The Cabinet of Ministers of Germany considered unjustified Russia’s intention to introduce retaliatory sanctions in the Navalny case

Berlin “takes note” of the relevant statements of Moscow, said Steffen Seibert, official representative of the German Cabinet of Ministers.

This position was expressed at a briefing on Friday by the official representative of the German Cabinet of Ministers Steffen Seibert.

“Russia has everything necessary to investigate this crime. Instead, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry announces the imposition of sanctions against representatives of other states. Such a step from the point of view of the federal government is certainly unjustified and disproportionate”, –  he said. Thus, according to the representative of the Cabinet, “the Russian problem is brought to the level of bilateral relations with Germany and France.

Neither Seibert nor Foreign Ministry representative Christopher Burger could specify who from Germany might be in the sanctions list. Burger also noted that these statements were not a surprise for the German side.

As Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov stated on November 12, Moscow imposes mirror sanctions against representatives of German and French governing bodies due to the situation around Navalny.

The spokesman for the Russian President Dmitry Peskov repeatedly said that Moscow was ready for a comprehensive cooperation with Berlin, and noted that before the removal of the victim in Germany, no poisonous substances were detected. In addition, Moscow has sent several requests for legal assistance to Berlin.

On October 15 the sanction list for incident with Navalny was published in Official journal of European Union. It includes director of FSB Alexander Bortnikov, first deputy head of administration of Russian president Sergey Kirienko, head of directorate of Russian president for internal policy Andrey Yarin, deputy ministers of defence Alexey Krivoruchko and Pavel Popov, as well as plenipotentiary representative of Russian president in Siberian federal district Sergey Menyailo.