should soon receive documents from Germany on the Navalny case, which will allow Washington to determine its position. He noted that he had no reason to question Germany's conclusions that Navalny was poisoned by Novichok, and stressed that if the fact of the poisoning was confirmed, it would anger him. On 6 September, Heiko Maas said that Germany was planning to discuss possible sanctions against Russia if the Kremlin does not provide an explanation soon, saying that any sanctions should be "targeted". Maas also said that there were "several indications" that Russian authorities were behind the poisoning. He also said that a lack of support from Russia in the investigation could "force" Germany to change its position on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. On 8 September, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called on Russia "to carry out, or fully cooperate with, a thorough, transparent, independent and impartial investigation, after German specialists said they have "unequivocal proof" that he was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent." In a March 2021 report, the East StratCom Task Force of the European External Action Service registered an increase in false information propagated in Russia about Germany as a result of the deterioration in German-Russian relations developed since the poison attack. In 2020 The Task Force reported over 300 cases of false information targeting Alexei Navalny, while most of the cases have appeared after the poisoning. Comments by political scientists and sociologists Political scientist Nikolai Petrov, senior fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) and professor of political science at the Higher School of Economics, commenting on the poisoning of Navalny for The New York Times, noted that in the Kremlin “no one else causes such hostility and fear as Navalny". This means that "there is a very long list of potential enemies" who may wish for Navalny's death, or at least want to render him incapacitated. However, Navalny is such a prominent figure in Russia that none of his personal enemies would have dared to take such radical measures against him without, "at least, the tacit consent of Putin." According to Petrov, in Russia there is a system “like in the mafia: nothing can be done without the approval and guarantees of immunity from the boss. I'm not saying that Putin directly ordered the poisoning of him, but no one can act without