Baerbock sees relations with Russia under heavy strain after the verdict in the case of the so-called zoo murder.
(Photo: imago images / photothek)
Berlin As a consequence of the Berlin murder sentence against a Russian, the German government declares two employees of the Russian embassy in Germany to be “undesirable persons”. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in Berlin that this was explained to the Russian Ambassador Sergei Nechayev on Wednesday during a conversation in the Foreign Office. Such a step amounts to expelling the diplomats.
Baerbock sees relations with Russia under heavy strain after the verdict in the case of the so-called zoo murder. “This murder on behalf of the state […] represents a serious violation of German law and the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Germany, ”said Baerbock on Wednesday in Berlin. For this reason, she summoned the Russian ambassador and declared two employees of the Russian ambassador to be undesirable. An open and honest exchange with Russia is heavily burdened by the process.
The Berlin Chamber Court had sentenced the defendant Russian Vadim Krasikow to life imprisonment for the murder of the Georgian Tornike Changoshvili. According to the verdict, Krasikow shot his victim in the middle of the Kleiner Tiergarten in Berlin in broad daylight in August 2019. “In June 2019 at the latest, the central government of the Russian Federation decided to liquidate Tornike Changoshvili in Berlin,” said Judge Olaf Arnoldi.
“That was and is nothing other than state terrorism,” emphasized the presiding judge of the Berlin Chamber Court. “A signal should be sent.” Changoshvili is of Chechen descent and has been classified as a terrorist by Russian authorities. He is said to have fought against Russia in the Chechnya war.
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