Alexei Navalny, 44, fell ill after boarding a plane in Siberia last month and is in a coma. (Proceedings)
Highlight
- Tests showed that Alexei Navalny was poisoned by the chemical nerve agent Novichok
- Germany asked Russia to provide urgent clarifications
- The tests were carried out by the German army in a Berlin hospital.
Sedan:
Tests on Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny showed that he was poisoned by a chemical nerve agent Novichok, the German government said on Wednesday, demanding explanations from Moscow.
“It is a shocking fact that Alexei Navalny was the victim of an attack with a nerve chemical agent in Russia,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement.
“The government condemns this attack in the strongest terms. The Russian government is urgently requested to provide clarification on the incident.”
Tests carried out by the German army in consultation with the Charite hospital in Berlin, where Navalny is being treated, found “unequivocal evidence of a Novichok family chemical nerve agent,” Seibert said.
Navalny, 44, fell ill after boarding a plane in Siberia last month. He was initially treated at a local hospital before being transferred to Berlin for treatment.
Charite Hospital has reported “some improvement” in Navalny’s condition, but he nevertheless remains in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator.
The case has drawn parallels to two alleged Kremlin-related poisonings in Britain.
In 2006, President Vladimir Putin was blamed for the radiation poisoning death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in the British capital.
In 2018, the Kremlin was also accused of being behind the attempted assassination of former double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, south-west England, using a Novichok nerve agent.
The German government said it will brief NATO and EU partners on its findings and seek a joint reaction on the case.
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