Paris and Berlin will send their EU partners a proposal to impose sanctions over the alleged poisoning of Russian Alexei Navalny. On  October 6, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed the conclusions of the laboratories of France and Germany about the poisoning of the politician. According to Reuters, the sanctions will affect representatives of the Russian military intelligence (GRU, now called the Main Directorate of the Russian General Staff).

      “France and Germany will send their European partners proposals for additional sanctions. These proposals will be aimed at people who we consider responsible, because of their government positions, for this crime and for violation of international standards, as well as at the persons participating in the Novichok program,” the French and German Foreign Ministry said in a joint statement. Who exactly may be affected by the sanctions is not specified.

      Also, Paris and Berlin once again called on Moscow to start investigating what happened to the Russian politician. “Russia has not provided any convincing explanation yet. Thus, we believe that there is no plausible explanation for the poisoning of Navalny, other than the participation and responsibility of Russia,” the statement says.

      A pre-investigation check is underway in Russia. The decision to initiate a criminal case or to refuse it has not been adopted yet. The Russian authorities have repeatedly stated that on the basis of the analyzes received by the Russian doctors, there is no reason to initiate a case. For a joint investigation of the circumstances of the incident, Moscow invited representatives of the OPCW to Russia. Alexei Navalny himself said that he was poisoned on the orders of Vladimir Putin and called on Europe to impose sanctions against the president's entourage.