Moscow will send two German diplomats in response to Berlin’s actions. This was reported at the Russian Foreign Ministry on December 20.
As specified in the department, the extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of Germany Geza Andreas von Gayr was summoned to the ministry, a strong protest was made to him in connection with the expulsion of two Russian diplomats from Germany under the pretext of the case of the murder of Georgian citizen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili.
The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that the verdict in this case against the Russian Vadim Sokolov is absolutely unfair and biased.
“It was indicated that the Russian side categorically rejects the unfounded and divorced from reality accusations of the involvement of Russian state structures in this crime, put forward within the specified verdict, which is in the nature of an explicit political order,” it was said in the message.
The Ambassador was also noted that “the Russian side will invariably adequately respond in a proportionate manner to any potential confrontational attacks by Berlin in future”.
On December 15, the German authorities declared two diplomats of the Russian Embassy in Berlin persona non grata over the Khangoshvili murder case. German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock noted that the murder constituted a grave violation of German law and the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Germany, and was also allegedly committed by state order.
In turn, the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that the Russian Federation would soon announce its reciprocal steps to Berlin to expel diplomats.
On December 15, the High Court of Berlin found Sokolov guilty of the murder of a Georgian citizen and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The prosecutor’s office considered that the murder was allegedly committed on instructions “from government departments of the government of the Russian Federation.” The defense insisted on the lack of evidence base.
Commenting on the verdict, the presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov stressed that Moscow categorically disagrees with “this conclusion and such a formulation.”
According to the investigation, the accused, disguised as a tourist, arrived in Paris from Moscow on August 17, 2019. After that, he headed to Berlin, where a murder victim asked for asylum in 2016. On the day of the crime, according to law enforcement officers, the attacker approached his victim from behind and shot him from a pistol with a silencer, and then shot him twice more in the head of the fallen man.
In October 2020, it was reported that Khangoshvili participated in the preparation of a terrorist attack in the Moscow metro and in Beslan in 2004, and in 2013 organized a channel for the supply of terrorists from the Pankisi Gorge of Georgia to Syria through Turkey. In 2002, Khangoshvili was put on the wanted list in Russia on suspicion of terrorism.
Source: IZ
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
