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Berlin (dpa) - Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier has spoken out in favor of the further construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, despite the currently strained relations with Russia.
"One is business relationships and business projects that have existed for decades, the other is serious human rights violations and our reactions to them," said the CDU politician of "Bild am Sonntag".
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) also recently emphasized that she did not want to link Nord Stream 2 and the Navalny case.
On Saturday evening, the project company announced that the laying work on the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline had resumed.
The project is controversial, the USA and several EU countries are against the gas pipeline.
But Germany is sticking to it.
After the poison attack on the Kremlin critic Alexej Navalny, whose imprisonment and Moscow's expulsion of three diplomats from Germany, Poland and Sweden, the German-Russian relationship is still strained.
Altmaier told the "Bild am Sonntag" that he could imagine a "clear response" from the EU to the condemnation of Navalny.
"The conviction of Alexei Navalny is an outrageous process that has nothing to do with the rule of law," said the CDU politician.
“I can imagine a clear answer to those who have ordered and are responsible for this human rights violation.
But that can only be a joint response from all EU member states, ”said Altmaier.
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Because of Navalny's imprisonment, new EU sanctions against Russia have been discussed in the EU since last month.
Because of the attack on Navalny, the EU had already imposed entry and property bans on people suspected of being responsible for President Vladimir Putin last year.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210207-99-334587 / 2