German MPs call on Merkel to abandon Nord Stream 2 over Russia-linked contract killing in Berlin
German Chancellor Angela Merkel should withdraw her support for the Nord Stream-2 project over the murder in Berlin of Georgian citizen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, which was allegedly carried out by Russia, writes the newspaper Bild, citing deputy head of the Free Democratic Party of Germany Alexander Graf Lambsdorff.
The MP said the killing in Berlin "a couple of hundred meters from government buildings" was a sharp blow to German sovereignty and Berlin should "think three times before laying a money-making pipeline to Moscow." According to Lambsdorf, Germany cab buy gas from other suppliers.
Merkel "knows for sure that Russian policy is unfriendly to Germany and unfriendly to the European Union," the MP said. In this regard, he expressed bewilderment as to why the Chancellor continues to support Nord Stream 2. "I think it has to stop," he said.
Former military commander of the second Chechen war, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, was shot dead on August 23, 2019, in Berlin's Tiergarten Park. Russian authorities had earlier put him on the wanted list, accusing him of terrorism. Khangoshvili left for Germany after another attack on him in Georgia in 2015. The alleged killer, a Russian national, was detained in Berlin on the same day.
The case was originally handled by the Berlin Prosecutor's office, but the Office of the German Federal Public Prosecutor launched its own investigation in December. This happens only when the special services of another state are involved in the crime.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas did not rule out the possibility of imposing new sanctions against Russia in connection with the murder of Khangoshvili. "The federal government clearly reserves the right to take further action in this case," he said.