BERLIN, December 4. /TASS/. The German government considers the expulsion of Russian embassy employees following a Georgian national’s killing in Berlin to be a warning signal for Moscow and will not call on its partners to do the same as London did after the Skripal poisoning incident, the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper wrote on Wednesday, citing government sources.
"Our NATO and EU partners will be informed of Germany’s decision and the details of the case later in the day. The German government won’t insist that other countries expel Russian diplomats," the newspaper wrote. A government source added that "everything depends on Moscow’s reaction and investigation results."
The German Foreign Ministry earlier announced the expulsion of two Russian embassy employees. According to Spiegel Online, the two were intelligence agents disguised as diplomats.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier dismissed allegations about Russia’s involvement in the murder as groundless. "There are no serious suspicions, and there cannot be. What does it have to do with the Russian authorities? These allegations are completely groundless," he told reporters, commenting on German media reports claiming that the killer had ties to the Russian authorities.
A 40-year-old Georgian national was killed in the German capital on August 23. The Berlin prosecution said later that same day that a 49-year-old Russian suspect had been detained.