German Chancellor Angela Merkel has confirmed that tests showed ‘unequivocally’ that Russian dissident Alexei Navalny was poisoned by a military-grade novichok nerve agent. Germany became involved in the affair when Navalny was transported to the Charité hospital in Berlin two weeks ago. But, while Berlin decided to reveal the test result and called on the Russian government to provide answers about what happened to Navalny, this could easily become a typical case of German diplomacy.
Critics of the government in Germany like to call its actions on the international level ‘zahnlos’, which can be translated as ‘toothless’ – its actions lack teeth to hurt another power, or at least leave a bite mark. So far, Merkel has only planned to consult with the European Union and Nato allies to formulate a response in the coming days, but there is this feeling that declarations are all Germany can deliver when it has to deal with the superpowers of the world.
Merkel has always considered Germany to be a diplomatic middle-power that is a bridge between the West and some of the controversial partners in the East, particularly Russia and Turkey.
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