Upon arriving in the Kremlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel advocated dialogue with Russia despite their “deep differences”. But at the end of her meeting with President Vladimir Putin, on his last visit to Moscow before leaving power in the coming months, Merkel told reporters that she had asked the Russian head of state to release his opponent Alexei Navalny on the anniversary of his poisoning.
Once again I asked the Russian President to release Alexei Navalny [atualmente detido na Rússia] Merkel said at a joint press conference.
Putin rejected the appeal immediately. In response to Merkel, the Russian leader claimed that Alexei Navalny was arrested not “for his political activities” but for “a criminal offense with foreign accomplices”.
The case of Alexei Navalny, poisoned by the opponent and the West by Russian power, is a sensitive case in German-Russian relations.
Berlin took in Navalny when he was in a coma a year ago, and it was German army scientists who identified the toxin used, a neurotoxin developed by the Soviet-era military.
In January, after convalescing in Germany, Navalny returned to Russia and was immediately arrested.
