Berlin
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday stood by her backing for a German-Russian gas pipeline project despite the Navalny case and the threat of US sanctions. Merkel said her government’s position on Nord Stream 2 is still unaffected by tensions over Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who recovered in Germany from his poisoning with a nerve agent last summer and was arrested on his return to Russia. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would bring Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea, also faces bipartisan opposition in the United States. Washington has said that the project would make Europe more dependent on Russian gas and hurt European energy security.— AP
