Angela Merkel under pressure to abandon Russian gas pipeline

The poisoning of Alexei Navalny has led to calls for EU measures against Russia PAVEL GOLOVKIN/AP. Angela Merkel is under pressure to abandon a controversial underwater gas pipeline from Russia to Germany in response to the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin critic. Politicians in the German chancellor’s party have accused Moscow of orchestrating the attempt on Mr Navalny’s life. A military laboratory has identified “beyond doubt” the toxin that left the campaigner in hospital as a chemical from the novichok group, a family of nerve agents developed in Soviet Russia.