BERLIN, December 20. /TASS/. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas stated that he and his Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov had discussed the murder of a Georgian citizen that took place in August in Berlin, which led to the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Germany. The diplomats held talks over the phone on Thursday.
"We have noted at different levels that information is ready to be provided. Yesterday, I held a phone call with my Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on this issue," Maas said on Friday during the joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadim Pristayko in Berlin.
"I cannot say whether the information that we are expecting has been received or not," he stated, adding that Berlin is expecting that Russia will corroborate the statements on its readiness to cooperate in the investigation.
"We have always pointed out that one of the reasons behind the expulsion of both Russian diplomats was the stubborn refusal of Russian agencies to cooperate with us, not just the start of the investigation of the German Prosecutor General’s Office," he stated.
A 40-year-old Georgian citizen was gunned down in Berlin on August 23. The office of Berlin’s prosecutor later in the day informed of the detention of a suspect identified as 49-year-old resident of Russia.
On December 4, the German Foreign Ministry announced the expulsion of two Russian embassy staffers from Germany due to what was described as insufficient cooperation by the Russian authorities in investigating the killing of the Georgian national. Moscow responded in kind. Russia is denying any involvement in the organization of the crime.