USA may impose sanctions against the Northern stream 2 Russian project before the presidential election, the story of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny is just an additional reason for this, according to the Deputy Director of the Institute of Europe RAS Vladislav Belov.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump said that he would support stopping the implementation of the Russian project Nord stream 2 because of the situation with opposition activist Alexey Navalny.
"Trump has long promised to do this, and he will do it, just in the case of Navalny, he has an additional reason that justifies Trump's position. These are additional grounds for insisting on the imposition of sanctions. The probability of introduction of sanctions from the US continues to remain very high. I suspect that the Americans will introduce them, and before the presidential election, " Belov told RIA Novosti.
The Americans would have imposed sanctions without the story with Navalny, but now the probability is significantly higher, he said.
"When Merkel says that she does not rule out sanctions against Nord stream, of course, she simply does not rule it out from the EU's point of view. From the point of view of Brussels, the probability is minimal, from the point of view of Washington - the maximum. So Trump's statement is not new," he said.
Navalny was hospitalized in Omsk on August 20 after he felt sick on the plane. According to the results of examinations, Omsk doctors called the main diagnosis a metabolic disorder that caused a sharp change in blood sugar. What caused it is not yet clear, but no poisons were found in Navalny's blood and urine, according to Omsk doctors.
The blogger was later flown to Germany. On Wednesday, the German government said, citing military medics, that Navalny was allegedly poisoned with a substance from the Novichok group of chemical warfare agents. In this regard, the Kremlin said that Berlin did not inform Moscow of its conclusions, and the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that Russia is waiting for a response from Germany to an official request on this situation.
On the day of Navalny's hospitalization, the Prosecutor's office and the police began to conduct their checks. The Russian Embassy in Berlin said that they expect the German side to respond as quickly as possible to the request of the Prosecutor General's office of the Russian Federation on August 27 for legal assistance in the Navalny case. Russia is interested and wants to clarify the situation. This requires information from Germany, which is not yet available, said Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian President. Investigative actions on the situation with Navalny are de facto underway, if the presence of a toxic substance is confirmed, the investigation will be opened de jure, the press secretary of the Russian President said on Friday, answering questions from journalists.
On Monday, the Berlin clinic Charite reported that Navalny's condition has improved, he was out of a coma.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons