Ukraine expects policy on Nord Stream 2 to be revised after Navalny poisoning - Kuleba

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said this at an online briefing, commenting on the poisoning of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"Ukraine proceeds from the fact that now our partners and all those who oppose the aggressive policy of the Russian Federation must use an effective mechanism to influence this country, including through the application of sanctions and a revision of the policy on the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline," he said.

Kuleba noted that if the pipeline is completed, Russia will have additional opportunities to earn huge amounts of money and then invest them in its aggressive actions both inside the country and abroad.

"Therefore, it is time to take a very comprehensive approach to this issue and finally take measures that will maximize the price for the Russian Federation for its actions," he said.

Kuleba said that there is no reason not to trust the conclusions of German experts on Navalny's poisoning with the Novichok nerve agent and recalled that poisoning with a nerve agent is the use of chemical weapons and a gross violation of international law.

He said that this crime should not go unpunished, because, as the experience of previous years shows, impunity only encourages Russia to take new aggressive actions and commit new crimes.

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny fell unwell on August 20 on a plane en route from Tomsk to Moscow. The airliner urgently landed in Omsk. Navalny was hospitalized.

On August 22, he was taken to Berlin. Navalny is in a coma. His condition is severe but stable.

The German government said on September 2 that toxicological tests on samples taken from Navalny had shown that the Novichok nerve agent had been used in his poisoning.

op