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Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, hospitalized in a Berlin hospital after the poisoning, spoke to a prosecutor about what happened to him, also saying he wanted to return to Russia as soon as he made a full recovery. A senior German security official reported it and wrote it in New York Times. Navalny “is fully aware of his condition, he is fully aware of what has happened and he knows exactly where he is,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
Last week, the Charité hospital in Berlin wrote in a press release that Alexei Navalny was no longer in a medically induced coma and that his condition was improving: he was breathing independently without the help of ventilators and was responding to verbal stimuli. However, the hospital said “it is still too early to assess the possible long-term effects of his severe poisoning.” The German security officer who now spoke about Navalny’s condition said that the opponent seemed mentally present and that in his conversation with the German prosecutor he would have refused to cooperate with the joint Germany-Russia investigation into his case. the New York Times he also writes that Navalny said he wanted to return to Russia. “He has no intention of remaining in exile in Germany. He wants to return to Russia and he wants to continue with his mission, ”said the official.
The news about the state of Navalny came a few hours after the statements of the German government spokesman Steffen Seiber developed on the results of the analyzes carried out by the laboratories of Sweden and France and which confirmed that Navalny was poisoned with the dangerous nerve agent , the novichok. from Russia between the 1980s and 1990s and was used in the past to poison opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Novichok is the same nerve agent used in the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, which occurred in England on March 4, 2018. Both Skripal and his daughter survived, and subsequent British government investigations revealed that the two were poisoned by three Russian military intelligence agents. Russia has always denied its involvement and has repeatedly accused the UK of organizing the attack.
Seiber also said that the analyzes by the Swedish and French laboratories were carried out “independently”, adding: “We renew the call to Russia to explain what happened.” The results confirm, among other things, those of toxicological tests carried out by a special laboratory of the German army. Samples taken at Navalny were also sent for laboratory testing to the OPCW, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons based in The Hague, Netherlands.
The German government had harshly attacked Russia, holding it directly responsible for the poisoning; German Chancellor Angela Merkel had said that “it is clear that Alexei Navalny was the victim of a crime” and that “the aim was to silence him.” On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov canceled a meeting scheduled for this week with his German counterpart Heiko Maas. In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry made no reference to Navalny’s poisoning, saying the meeting was canceled due to a change in Maas’s agenda.
Last Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the Navalny poisoning with Vladimir Putin during a phone call, asking that the circumstances and responsibilities of “this assassination attempt” be clarified “without delay.” Meanwhile, Russia has announced that there is still no legal basis to open a criminal case about what happened to the activist: “We have our own laws, under which we cannot trust our word for the opening of a criminal case.” . Certain procedures have to be followed (…) and that is why on August 27 the General Prosecutor’s Office requested legal assistance from the German side, ”Sergej Lavrov told local radio station RTVI.
Navalny had been transferred to Germany after two days of hospitalization in Omsk, Russia, following what immediately appeared to be a case of poisoning. Before allowing Navalny to be transferred abroad, the Omsk doctors had changed their version of his condition several times, eventually going so far as to argue that the tests had ruled out that there had been poisoning and Navalny was sick with low blood sugar. Navalny, 44, in addition to being Putin’s best-known opponent, is also considered a profitable investigative journalist, thanks to the publication of articles and inquiries into corruption scandals. Due to his political activity and his work as a journalist, he has been arrested and imprisoned several times over the years, many times under pretexts and for political reasons.
– Read also: How Navalny changed the opposition in Russia
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