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German media reported about it a week ago, now it’s safe: according to the German government, “unequivocal evidence” of a chemical nerve agent from the Novitschok group was provided by the Russian government critic Alexej Navalny. At the urging of the Berlin Charité, where Navalny is currently being treated, a special laboratory of the Bundeswehr carried out a toxicological test on Navalny samples.
“Alexei Navalny will continue to be treated in an intensive care unit and will be mechanically ventilated. A longer course of the disease is to be expected. The long-term consequences of severe poisoning cannot be ruled out,” said a statement from the Charité.
Merkel: “It should be silenced”
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) was shocked. It is true that Navalny has become a “victim of a crime,” Merkel said in Berlin on Wednesday. “It should be silenced.” A chemical nerve agent had been clearly demonstrated in her. “We hope that the Russian government will agree to this process,” Merkel said. “Now there are very serious questions that only the Russian government can and should answer.”
The spokesman for the CDU / CSU parliamentary group, Jürgen Hardt, said: “For the CDU / CSU parliamentary group, therefore, it is obvious that this toxic substance could only be obtained and manufactured with the help of the Russian government.”
The German Foreign Ministry has summoned the Russian ambassador. “The unmistakable request of the federal government was sent to him once again to fully and transparently clarify the background of this now proven poisoning of Alexej Navalny,” Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said. A Kremlin spokesman called for a full data exchange between Berlin and Moscow.
Chemical weapon
The Foreign Ministry will inform the Russian Ambassador about the results of the investigation and the German government will inform its partners in the EU and NATO about them. Then an “appropriate joint reaction” should be discussed. “The federal government will also be in contact with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OVCW),” Seibert said.
Navalny, who fell suddenly into a coma on 20 August on a flight from his home country and was initially examined in Omsk, is being treated at the Charité at the urging of his family. After evaluating the clinical findings, the German doctors assumed that Navalny had been poisoned. The Russian government had described the Berlin Charité’s assessment that Navalny was probably poisoned as an eruption.
