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Trump on Navalny Poisoning: “We still don’t have proof”
| Reading time: 2 minutes
At his press conference at the White House, US President Donald Trump refrained from criticizing Russia.
What: REUTERS
It is clear to the German government that the critic of the Russian government Alexej Navalny was poisoned. The president of the United States does not seem convinced. Donald Trump announced that he would investigate the case and stressed that he had a good relationship with Vladimir Putin.
ORPresident Donald Trump has yet to see the information provided by the federal government about the poison attack on Kremlin critic Alexej Navalny as proven. “We don’t have any evidence yet, but I’ll take a look,” Trump told a news conference in Washington on Friday. Germany had previously informed its NATO allies, including the United States, that Navalny had been exposed to a neurotoxin from the Novitschok group before falling into a coma.
Trump said at the press conference that he did not have precise information about the case. “I don’t know exactly what happened,” said the president of the United States. “I think it’s tragic, it’s terrible, it shouldn’t have happened.”
The federal government announced Wednesday that Navalny had been poisoned “without question” with a chemical nerve agent from the so-called Novitschok group. The poison was developed by Soviet scientists in the 1970s.
Trump refrained from criticizing Moscow, instead emphasizing that he had a good relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the same time, Trump said he had no doubts about Germany’s findings. “Based on what Germany says, that appears to be the case,” Trump said of Navalny’s Novichok poisoning. “I would be very upset if that was the case.” Russia denies being involved in the poisoning of the 44-year-old politician.
“Atrocious assassination attempt”
Navalny was airlifted from Russia to Berlin on August 22 with symptoms of poisoning, where he has since been treated at the Charité Clinic. Doctors at the Siberian hospital where Navalny was initially treated, according to their own statements and according to the Kremlin, found no poison in the body of the well-known critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Possible sanctions against Russia due to the poison attack are currently being discussed at the EU level. At a special NATO meeting on Friday, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called for an “impartial” investigation into the case. All 30 NATO members had “strongly condemned the ‘horrific assassination attempt’ on the Kremlin critic,” Stoltenberg said. The use of nerve agents is “a flagrant violation of international law” and requires “an international response.”
