Steffen Seibert
Germany does not exclude the introduction of new sanctions against Russia due to the situation around Alexei Navalny (the founder of FBK – the fund is included by the Ministry of Justice in the register of organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent ). This was stated by the official representative of the German government, Steffen Seibert, quoted by TASS.
Seibert recalled that the European Union has already imposed sanctions against Russia over the case of Alexei Navalny. According to him, Berlin will discuss with the other European partners further steps after the verdict of the oppositionist. “New sanctions are not out of the question,” Seibert said.
The day before, on February 2, the Simonovsky court in Moscow replaced Alexei Navalny's suspended sentence with a real one. Thus, Navalny was sentenced to 3.5 years in a general regime colony, but will spend two years and eight months in prison, taking into account the year spent under house arrest during the preliminary investigation in the Yves Rocher case.
After the verdict was announced, calls for an uncoordinated action appeared on social networks. Security measures were stepped up in the center of Moscow; at the request of the police, the Okhotny Ryad, Ploshchad Revolyutsii, Teatralnaya and Aleksandrovsky Sad metro stations were closed until further notice. Detentions took place at Manezhnaya Square.
