Status: 16.12.2021 1:48 p.m.
After the verdict in the “Tiergartenmord” trial, the Kremlin does not consider the relationship with Chancellor Scholz to be encumbered. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow, however, had sharply criticized the expulsion of two Russian diplomats.
Despite the diplomatic tensions surrounding the verdict in the so-called Tiergarten Murder Trial, the Kremlin is counting on working with the new Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The expulsion of two Russian diplomats from Berlin should “in no way” have a negative impact on the dialogue between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Scholz, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov of the Interfax agency. However, it is an “unpleasant episode” in relations between the two countries.
With a view to the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline, Peskow said the project was in the interests of Russia and Germany. The US has threatened sanctions against the pipeline should Russia violate Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Foreign Ministry finds clearer words
The Russian Foreign Ministry had previously described Germany’s reaction as “another unfriendly step”. The ministry was further quoted as saying that the allegation that the Russian government was involved in the murder of a Georgian in Berlin’s Tiergarten park in August 2019 is unfounded. The verdict was politically motivated, and Russia would react with “appropriate measures”.
Because of the fact, the Berlin Court of Appeal sentenced a Russian to life imprisonment on Wednesday. The judges are convinced that the now 56-year-old acted on behalf of Russian government agencies. As a consequence, the Foreign Office declared two diplomats from the Russian embassy in Berlin to be “undesirable persons”. This is equivalent to expulsion.
Scholz supported Baerbock’s decision. It is absolutely right that the Foreign Minister “reacted with a clear answer,” he said at the start of the EU summit in Brussels, which focuses on relations with Russia.