German business: Not right to respond to Navalny case with sanctions

BERLIN, Sep 3 (PRIME) -- The German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations believes it is not right to react to suspected poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny with economic sanctions, the committee’s representative Andreas Metz said on Thursday.

“We consider it wrong to respond to the poisoning of Navalny with new economic sanctions, which will affect the affairs of completely uninvolved enterprises and the Russian population,” Metz said.

“We must not allow this incident to lead to a long-term burden on bilateral relations and thus further damage German–Russian economic contacts,” he added.

Jurgen Hardt, speaker for foreign affairs, said on Wednesday that the parliamentary faction of Germany's Christian Democratic Union / Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) does not rule out new sanctions against Russia over suspected poisoning of Navalny.

Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, said later that the German Foreign Office did not bring up sanctions with Russian Ambassador Sergei Nechayev, who was summoned on Wednesday for a briefing on the new findings in the Navalny case.

“No, the ambassador was told nothing of the kind, nothing at all,” Zakharova told Rossiya 24 television channel.

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