Navalny poisoning raises pressure on Merkel to cancel Russian pipeline

Ian Bond, director of foreign policy for the Centre for European Reform and a former British diplomat in Moscow, said he expected Ms. Merkel would go first to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to investigate the poisoning, as Britain did after the Salisbury attack. After that she could raise the issue in the Security Council, the European Union and NATO.

The possible outcomes are targeted sanctions, the expulsion of more Russian agents from Europe and, if possible, international arrest warrants for those responsible, if they can be identified, he said.

But given the possibility that events in Belarus could get much worse, Mr. Bond said, the West must keep some sticks in reserve, like blocking Russian access to Western bond markets and increasing restrictions on the issue of Russian debt in the West.