Germany expels Russian diplomats

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 08 Dec 2019 by Alex Teddy

On December 4 Germany expelled two Russian diplomats. Germany suspects the diplomats assisted in the assassination of a Georgian citizen, Zemilkhan Khangoshvili, in Germany. A Russian has been charged with Khangoshvili's murder. Khangoshvili had been labeled a terrorist by Russia. Under Russian law this made it legal to kill him abroad.The two diplomats are said to be in the GRU (Russian Military Intelligence). The suspect in the murder case has a passport in the name of Vadim Sokolov. This is believed to be an alias. His passport does not exist on the database of Russian passports. Why did Russia issue a passport and then not put it on its database?The German reaction has been muted. This is because Germany does not want to queer the pitch for Nord Stream 2 gas.

Now read on...

Register to sample a report

Register