‘No evidence of Russian involvement’ in Berlin incident, Embassy says

Berlin. The Russian ambassador in Berlin said on Wednesday that there was no evidence of Russian government involvement in the August incident in Berlin in which a Georgian national was allegedly killed by a Russian citizen.

Earlier in the day, the German Foreign Ministry declared as personae non gratae two staffers of the Russian Embassy.

“We are deeply disappointed by the approach of the German side,” Ambassador Sergey Nechayev said.

“We consider this step as groundless and unfriendly. There was no evidence of Russian government involvement in this incident.”

“This is an unmotivated politicization of the crime, the investigation of which is far from being complete, as well as a clear attempt to anticipate the results of this investigation,” according to the envoy.

The Kremlin on Wednesday issued a statement denying any involvement in the killing of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, 40, who was shot dead in a park in Berlin on August 23.

"This case has nothing to do with the Russian state or official agencies," said President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Peskov added: "I categorically deny any link between this killing and Russian officials." He also said that questions regarding the 49-year-old Russian suspect picked up by German police would be better directed at the foreign ministry.

Khangoshvili was reportedly killed 'execution-style' in the Kleiner Tiergarten park. The assailant approached him from behind as he was walking to a mosque before shooting him twice and fleeing on a bicycle.

Some sources claim that Khangoshvili could have been killed by anyone  because he led a terrorist group in Chechnya,  Nothern Caucasus,  that killed about 100 people, and wounded about 110 people.