Russia's sanctions plan related to Navalny 'unjustified', says Germany

Germany's government on Friday said that Russia's sanctions plan related to Putin's critic Alexei Navalny is ''unjustified''.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said"Russia has all the means at its disposal to get to the bottom of this crime and instead it levels sanctions against officials of other states."

Seibert called the punitive measures "unjustified and inappropriate", saying that Russia was "disregarding the international interest in solving this case".

It comes after Russia's decision toimpose retaliatory sanctions on German and French officials over the poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had said on Thursday thatNavalny, who fell ill on a flight in Siberia on August20 and was airlifted to Berlin for treatment, could have been poisoned in Germany or on the plane to Berlin.

Navalny collapsed on a flight in Russia in August and was transported to Germany where experts concluded he was poisoned with the Soviet-designed nerve agent Novichok.

The 44-year-old anti-graft campaignerhas said he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the poisoning, while the Kremlin has strenuously denied involvement and accused Germany of refusing to cooperate in an investigation.

Lavrov on Thursday added without providing evidence that Moscow had "reason to believe" the nerve agent could have entered Navalny's system during the flight to Berlin's Charite hospital or while he was in Germany.

Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh called the suggestion that Navalny was poisoned in Germany "the most idiotic of them all".

Doctors who treated Navalny before he was flown to Berlin said last week that he had not been poisoned but instead was suffering from metabolic issues and pancreatitis.

Navalny remains in Germany for treatment but has vowed to return to Russia after making a full recovery.