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A new crisis in Russian-Western relations began this week with Germany’s declaration that there was “unequivocal evidence” that one of President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critics had been poisoned by material from the Novicok group.
Western leaders and many Russians have expressed dismay at the incident, which Navalno’s comrades call the first known use of a chemical weapon against a major opposition figure on Russian soil.
On August 20, a 44-year-old lawyer had a bad feeling on a plane due to return to Moscow from Tomsk in Siberia. The plane landed in Omsk and A. Navaln was treated in a hospital in that city for two days and then transferred to a clinic in Berlin for specialized treatment.
The Kremlin denies invading the life of Navaln, who is still in an artificially induced coma, and Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov made clear on Friday that Moscow would not change its position.
“From the early days, a whole chain of theories was discussed, including poisoning,” Peskov told reporters. “According to our doctors, this theory has not been proven.”
“We have nothing to hide,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in turn.
Speaking to reporters, the head of Russian diplomacy accused the West of making “arrogant” demands. He also said that the German Justice Ministry had so far not shared any findings with Moscow prosecutors.
“When we have an answer, we will react,” Lavrov added.
In recent days, pro-Kremlin figures have spread a number of dubious theories, including a version that A. Navalna in Berlin could have been poisoned by the Germans or that he had poisoned himself.
“Stress and diet”
A Russian toxicologist said on Friday that the health of an opposition politician could have deteriorated due to diet, stress or fatigue, noting that no traces of poison had been found in his samples in the Siberian city of Omsk.
“Any factor could have caused a sudden deterioration. Even the simplest other than breakfast, “said Alexander Sabayev, the chief toxicologist for the Omsk region.
At the time, Belarusian autocrat Aliaksandr Lukashenko said on Thursday that his country’s security forces had intercepted telephone conversations with German officials, showing that Navaln’s poisoning had been “faked.”
Belarusian state media was preparing to publicize the alleged conversations intercepted on Friday night.
Russia has previously refused to accept responsibility for a series of similar incidents, including the 2018 poisoning of the infamous Novičiok, an infamous nerve-paralyzing substance developed by the USSR in 2018 in England.
NATO demands transparency
At the time, NATO called for an international investigation into the Navaln poisoning and demanded that Moscow reveal the details of its Novičiok program to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Following an extraordinary meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Brussels, Alliance leader Jens Stoltenberg said that all member states unanimously condemned the “horrible” attack on Navalna.
Germany shared its knowledge of the incident with the 29 remaining NATO members, and Mr. Stoltenberg noted that there was “irrefutable evidence” that material from the Novičiok group had been used.
“The Russian government must cooperate fully with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in conducting an impartial international investigation,” Stoltenberg said.
After the attack on S. Skripalis in 2018, also using Novičiokas, seven Russian diplomats were sent from the NATO mission.
Although Stoltenberg did not rule out a similar response this time, he emphasized that the Navaln poisoning was fundamentally different from the attack on Skripal on NATO territory.
The EU’s foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell has previously asked Moscow to contribute to an international investigation into the poisoning, emphasizing that the 27-nation bloc does not rule out sanctions.
According to the EU, the use of chemical weapons “is completely unacceptable under any circumstances. [ir] it is a serious violation of international law and international human rights standards. “
At the time, a Moscow court rejected a complaint by the Anti-Corruption Fund (FBK), founded by A. Navaln, about the alleged inaction of Russian investigators, the organization said.
FBK chief Ivan Zhdanov said Thursday that the poisoning of opposition politicians had turned a “new page” in the Kremlin’s crackdown on dissidents.
“Now the Russian authorities will present the most absurd and insane versions of the event,” he told AFP.
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