this decision could escalate tensions between russia and western countries german chancellor angela merkel has defended the expulsion of russian diplomats after germany's attorney general said evidence points to russian state involvement with. a meeting the russian president next week and then i will let you know whether i have spoken with him and how that goes and we've taken this measure as you know mainly because we have seen that russia is not supporting us in investigating this murder and of course i've spoken with allies about this through bilateral contacts . through all that. you know guest a georgian national was shot dead in berlin in broad daylight soon after the assassination suspicions arose that the russian intelligence services were involved the victim was a former rebel commander in the early 2040 against russia and the 2nd chechen war