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Merkel: Russia must answer questions
“It is a shocking fact that Alexei Navaln was the victim of an attack in Russia with a nerve paralyzing chemical,” said government spokesman Steffen Seibert.
The Pharmaceutical and Toxicology Laboratory of the German Armed Forces found traces of materials from the Novičiok group on the body of A. Navaln.
The German government report emphasizes that the Russian authorities must provide explanations for the incident.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel later announced that Navaln had been the victim of a crime and said Russia should answer questions. According to Merkel, those who poisoned A. Navalna tried to silence him.
“The crime against A. Navalns is directed against the fundamental values and rights that we defend,” Merkel emphasized.
Take action against Russia
The German government has also announced that it will inform its partners in the EU and NATO of the results of this study. The report says that the highest-level partners will be consulted on future policy towards Russia. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will also be informed of the investigation.
Meanwhile, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian president, who denies that Navaln may have been poisoned, said the Kremlin had not yet received official information from Germany about the Navaln poisoning. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has formally asked Germany for information on what substances may have been found in Navaln’s body and what drugs he is being treated with.
In Siberia, Russian doctors who treated A. Navalns repeatedly challenged the findings of a German hospital and rejected the diagnosis of poisoning. They said their tests showed no traces of poison on Navaln’s body.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas announced that a Russian ambassador had been summoned to the ministry on Wednesday. He was “clearly” given a German call for a “full and transparent” investigation into the Navaln poisoning case.
“We know it was an attack by a nerve paralyzing substance,” Maas said. – This makes it even more urgent to determine who [už tai] is responsible in Russia and force them to respond. “
“Russia itself should have a serious interest in maintaining good relations with its neighbors in Europe,” Maas said. “Now is definitely the time to make a decisive contribution.”
The treatment will be long
Shortly after the government announcement, the Charite Clinic announced that Navaln was still being treated in an intensive care unit connected to an artificial lung ventilator, but that his condition “continued to improve.”
“Recovery is likely to take a long time,” the report said. “It is too early to assess the long-term consequences of this serious poisoning.”
„Russian officials back it“
Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius writes on Twitter that Russian officials are responsible for the poisoning of A. Navalnas.
“You cannot buy these things in a store. Russian officials stand behind it. Those responsible for such a cynical crime must face the consequences. Few lines remain to be crossed,” writes L. Linkevičius.
“Russia is ready to cooperate”
The Russian Foreign Ministry, for its part, has stated that it is still awaiting a response from Berlin to a request from the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office regarding the situation with A. Navaln.
Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Putin, later said his country was willing to fully cooperate with Germany to clarify the situation, but also noted that Berlin had not provided Moscow with answers to its official questions.
“In general, we confirm that we are ready and willing to communicate and exchange data with Germany on this issue,” Peskov told Interfax on Wednesday.
However, when asked by the agency how the Kremlin would react to a statement from Berlin regarding the detection of traces of toxic material from the Novičiok group on Navaln’s body, a Kremlin spokesperson said: “We cannot competently respond to these statements. at this time”.
“The General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation sent a formal request to the German side in the hope that a formal response would be given. Our doctors also officially offered to exchange data and, sadly, they have not yet received a response from their colleagues. from Germany “, confirmed D. Peskov.
„Reuters“ / „Scanpix“ nuotr./Dmitrijus Peskovas
He stressed that “before the patient was transferred to Berlin, in accordance with all international standards, a complete set of tests was carried out in our country, no toxic substances were found.”
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, called for the Navaln situation not to be politicized.
“Similar things – everything related to diagnoses, guesses about the state of health, specific and clear wording related to the diagnosis – are the province of doctors. As soon as politicians start to take on the role of medical institutions and doctors , we can immediately talk about absolute filth, “Zacharova said on the air of Rossija 1 on Wednesday.
“What does this have to do with politicians, what have the German Foreign Ministry, the German leaders done here?” He asked.
“We need formulas, we need statements from medical institutions, we need documentary material to be provided in response to an official request from the Russian representatives,” said the diplomat.
“Write your data on paper and transmit it to Russia. Our embassy is open 24 hours a day and is waiting for this material. Everything else is simply called: an information campaign. We have already heard all this,” added the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In his opinion, “Berlin’s reputation is now largely at stake, because you can’t do things like that anyway.”
UK: Russia ‘must tell the truth’
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Wednesday that Russia “must tell the truth” about what happened to its opposition figure, Alexei Navaln.
The Russian government “must tell the truth about what happened to Mr. Navalns,” said D. Raab.
Former Soviet spy Sergei Skripali and his daughter Julia were poisoned in 2018 in Salisbury, United Kingdom, with this material created in the Soviet Union. They both survived.
VIDEO: Russian opposition leader A. Navaln is in a coma: suspected intentional poisoning
London accuses two Russian security officials of the attack, who allegedly arrived in the UK with forged passports. Moscow categorically denies such accusations.
The 44-year-old Kremlin critic and anti-corruption activist felt bad last week on a plane flying from Tomsk to Moscow. The politician spent two days in a coma hospital at Omsk Hospital, after which he was allowed to be transferred to the Charite clinic in Berlin. Russian doctors claimed that no traces of poison had been found on Navaln’s body.
Ivan Zhdanov, director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FCB) founded by A. Navaln, said in a statement about the German government that the findings on the use of Novičiok showed that only the Russian state could be responsible for the poisoning.
Novičiok can only be used by the state (GRU, FSB). “There is no reasonable doubt about that,” he wrote, referring to the Military Intelligence Service (GRU) and the Federal Security Service (FSB).
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