“From the point of view of the federal government, such a step is of course unjustified and inappropriate,” government spokesperson Steffen Seibert said at press conference.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday announced that Russia was imposing sanctions on leading officials in Germany and France, in retaliation for EU sanctions over the poisoning of opposition politician Navalny.

“Russia has all the means to solve this crime, instead the Russian foreign minister announces sanctions against officials of other states,” Seibert said.

Navalny was medically evacuated from Russia to Berlin in August after he fell near-fatally ill following a campaign trip to assist opposition politicians in the Siberian city of Tomsk.

Laboratories in EU member states Germany, France and Sweden have determined that Navalny was poisoned with the Soviet-developed nerve agent Novichok. Russian officials have said they have found no hard evidence to support that conclusion.

Last month, the European Union imposed sanctions on six senior Russian officials over the Navalny case, including close associates of President Vladimir Putin, as well as Alexander Bortnikov, head of Russia’s powerful Federal Security Service (FSB), the main successor agency of the Soviet KGB.

It is as of now unknown who is the target in Germany of the Russian sanctions.