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Germany has confirmed conclusive evidence that a Russian dissident was poisoned (Getty)
On Thursday, the Kremlin rejected accusations against Moscow of being behind the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, at a time when calls for international action increased after Germany said he had been poisoned with “Novichok.”
Western leaders are calling for Moscow to clarify after Berlin announced Wednesday that there was “conclusive evidence” that the 44-year-old Kremlin opponent had been poisoned by nerve gas.
Russia denies the existence of any evidence that Navalny has been poisoned, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that Berlin has not provided any evidence to Moscow, adding: “There is no justification to accuse the Russian state.” refusing to talk about the possibility of imposing economic sanctions on Moscow, calling West to avoid making “hasty judgments”.
In turn, the Director General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Fernando Arias, said in a statement that “According to the Convention on Chemical Weapons, poisoning anyone with nerve gas is the use of weapons Any such allegation is a cause for grave concern. ” He added that “the use of chemical weapons by any party under any circumstance … is reprehensible and completely incompatible with the legal standards established by the international community,” expressing the willingness of the international body to help any country that requests it.
Navalny, who is among the strongest critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin, fell ill while on a flight last month and underwent treatment at a hospital in Siberia before being evacuated to Berlin. Germany’s announcement that he had been poisoned with “Novichok”, the same substance that was used against former Russian double agent Sergey Skripal and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury two years ago, prompted widespread condemnation and calls for an investigation into the case.
Moscow, which primarily suffers from the widespread Western sanctions imposed in the context of its annexation of Crimea, the fallout from the Covid-19 outbreak and falling oil prices, seeks to avoid any additional pressure on its economy.
Poisoned relationships
Germany’s announcement on Wednesday saw the ruble fall to its lowest level against the euro since 2016, while the RTS index in Moscow fell more than three percent.
“Russia’s relations with the West have again been poisoned by Novichuk,” the business newspaper “Kommersant” said, adding that it had become clear that the European Union and the United States were seriously considering imposing new sanctions. “The main question is how far will they go with that,” he added.
Any new crisis in relations with the West would also threaten the “Nord Stream 2” project to expand a gas pipeline at a cost of ten billion euros ($ 11 billion), which is nearing completion at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. , which is expected to double natural gas shipments. Russian to Germany.
The project was postponed for months after Washington took steps to impose new sanctions on companies affiliated with “Nord Stream 2” due to concerns about growing Russian influence. Germany has expressed anger at the US steps, saying Washington is interfering in its internal affairs. But the country’s largest daily Bild called on Thursday for the project to be suspended, noting that “unless the (German) government stops building works on Nord Stream 2, we will soon end up financing Putin’s attacks on Novichok. “.
Peskov rejected these calls, which he described as “emotional statements”, saying that the project “is of interest to Russia, Germany and the entire European continent.”
Fake incident?
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the findings of Novichok’s poisoning by Navalny raise “very serious questions that only Russia can and should answer.”
In turn, the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, said Thursday that the security forces of his country intercepted German communications that revealed that the Navalny poisoning was false. Lukashenko told Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin that the intercepted contact between Berlin and Warsaw reveals that the incident was “false.” “Navalny was not poisoned,” said Lukashenko, who is under pressure from protesters calling for his resignation, during his meeting with Mishustin in Minsk. “They made the order, they said,” to dissuade Putin from interfering in Belarusian affairs.
“Novichok” is reported to be a poison developed by the Soviets at the end of the Cold War, which can be used as a very fine powder or in the form of a liquid or vapor. It was used against Skripal in Britain in 2018, as part of an assassination attempt that Western countries believe the Kremlin ordered, which Russia denies.
Navalny fell ill after boarding a plane in Siberia last month when people close to him said they suspected he had consumed a cup of tea containing a toxic substance at the airport. He was initially treated at a local hospital, where doctors said they found no toxic substances in his blood, before being flown to Berlin for treatment on August 22.
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