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Chancellor Angela Merkel’s top diplomat warned Russia that Germany’s support for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was at risk if the Kremlin doesn’t assist in clarifying the poisoning of dissident Alexey Navalny.
It was the first time a cabinet minister in Merkel’s government explicitly linked the fate of the Baltic Sea pipeline to Russia’s cooperation in an inquiry.
“More than 100 companies from 12 European countries are part of Nord Stream 2, about half of those from Germany,” Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper. “I certainly hope that the Russians don’t force us to change our stance.”
The German military’s finding this week that Navalny was attacked with a novichok nerve agent has put pressure on Merkel’s controversial backing of Nord Stream 2, which will ship Russian gas directly to Europe’s largest economy. Maas said Germany and its partners would need to coordinate a response unless Russia clarifies the circumstances of Navalny’s poisoning in the “next few days.”
