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Today, German Chancellor Angela Merkel considered that only Russia “can and should” answer the “questions” raised about the exposure of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny to the poisoning of Novichok, which aimed to “silence” him.
Navalny, the most prominent opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who shared posts widely condemning the corruption of the Russian elite on social media, was hospitalized in Berlin and tests showed, according to the German government, that he was poisoned by a neurotoxic substance, “Novichok”.
Merkel told the press that the Russian opposition, who was a “victim of a crime”, wanted to “silence him”. She added that “serious questions are now being raised that only the Russian government can and should” answer.
After the German government announced today that medical examinations performed by Navalny in a German army laboratory confirmed the existence of “conclusive evidence” that he was the victim of poisoning by “Novichok nerve gas”, the White House expressed “its profound concern”. “To confirm to Germany that the poisoning exposure is correct.
“The poisoning of Alexei Navalny is totally reprehensible,” wrote National Security Council spokesman John Oliot in a tweet, adding: “We will work with allies and the international community to hold people accountable in Russia, wherever they are. evidence drive, and cut funding for their malicious activities. ” “The Russian people have the right to express their views peacefully without fear of any punishment of any kind, and certainly not with chemicals,” he stressed.
Paris, in turn, denounced the “shocking and irresponsible use” of the nerve agent against Navalny. “I would like to condemn in the strongest terms the shocking and irresponsible use of such a substance,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement. He said there are “urgent questions … it is the responsibility of the Russian authorities to answer them”, adding that “France is in close contact with the German authorities as well as with our partners to coordinate the proper response.”
Britain also asked Russia to “tell the truth” about the fate of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, saying that “it is absolutely unacceptable” to use a “prohibited chemical weapon”.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: “It is absolutely unacceptable to use this banned chemical weapon again,” referring to the use of a substance that was developed in the era of the Soviet Union to poison former spy Sergey Skripal in 2018. on British soil. He added: “The Russian government … must tell the truth about what happened with Navalny.” He pledged to “work closely with Germany and our international allies and partners to demonstrate that the use of prohibited chemical weapons, anywhere in the world, has consequences.”
In a related context, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg denounced Navalny’s “shocking” poison and called on Russia to investigate the case. “The German government announced that Alexei Navalny had been attacked with a Novichok-type neurotoxic substance. This is shocking and he was condemned in the strongest terms,” Stoltenberg said in a statement.
A “despicable and cowardly” act, and Russia is ready to cooperate
For his part, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced today that Russia is ready to “fully cooperate” with Germany in the Navalny case, saying: “We are prepared and interested in fully cooperating and exchanging information on this issue with Germany “, as quoted by the agency. RIA Novosti officer.
But he indicated that Germany had not officially reported its findings to Russia. Peskov said: “The Russian prosecution sent an official request to the German side, hoping to receive an official response … Our doctors also offered to exchange official information, but unfortunately they did not receive an official response from their German colleagues.”
For its part, the Russian Foreign Ministry accused Germany of practicing “radio diplomacy” and “replacing normal cooperation with a media campaign … that does not care about existing legal cooperation mechanisms.”
In turn, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Russian public television that the Russian ambassador to Germany, who was summoned to the German Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, demanded evidence but did not obtain ” no answer, no fact, no information. “
The Navalny case spread like wildfire internationally and required numerous interventions and demands for clarification and accountability. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said today that the Russian opposition Alexei Navalny was the victim of “a despicable and cowardly act”.
She tweeted: “It is a despicable and cowardly act, once again,” referring to the use of the substance in the Skripal case in 2018. She highlighted the need to prosecute the perpetrators of this poisoning.
What is the “Navalny Affair”?
He is a Russian anti-corruption activist, who has widely shared posts denouncing corruption in the Russian elite on online platforms. He lost consciousness, on August 20, during a flight between Siberia and Moscow, when the plane made an emergency landing, and was admitted to the intensive care unit of the emergency hospital “Omsk” in Siberia. Two days later, Russian doctors agreed to transfer him to Germany after his condition worsened, and after the efforts of his family and his assistants, he was admitted on August 22 to the “Charité” hospital in Berlin, one of the most important European hospitals. important.
On August 24, German doctors concluded that Navalny had been “poisoned with a substance from the group of acetylcholine esterase inhibitors”, and the statement was met with criticism by the Kremlin, which denounced his “haste” in concluding that he had been poisoned. Today, Germany has reaffirmed the existence of “conclusive evidence” for the use of a poisonous nerve agent, “Novichok”.
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