Navalny publishes call recording to his alleged poisoner

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny released on Monday (NZT Tuesday) a recording of a phone call he said he made to a suspected state security agent who revealed details of how the politician was allegedly poisoned.

Navalny fell ill on August 20 during a domestic flight in Russia and was flown to Berlin while still in a coma for treatment two days later. Laboratories in Germany, France, and Sweden, and testing by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, established that he was exposed to a Soviet-era Novichok nerve agent.

The Russian authorities have vehemently denied any involvement in the poisoning.

Last week, the Bellingcat research group released a report alleging that agents from Russia’s FSB national security agency with “specialized training in chemical weapons, chemistry and medicine” were “in close proximity” to Navalny in the period. of time “during which he was poisoned.” “

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The investigation, conducted by Bellingcat and Russian media outlet The Insider in cooperation with CNN and German media outlet Der Spiegel, identified suspected FSB operatives after analyzing phone metadata and flight information.

The video showed him speaking on the phone with one of the alleged operatives. Bellingcat and other media outlets identified the man Navalny said he spoke with as Konstantin Kudryavtsev, a trained chemical weapons specialist. The investigation alleges that Kudryavtsev traveled to Omsk, the Siberian city where the plane carrying Navalny when he fell ill made an emergency landing and where the comatose politician was hospitalized for the first time, several days after Navalny was flown to Berlin

Navalny said he called the alleged FSB operative hours before the Bellingcat report was released, Navalny introduced himself as an assistant to Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev, saying he urgently needed to inform the man about what had happened. in another Siberian city, Tomsk, where the politician had been before he was allegedly poisoned.

The man on the other end of the call indicated that he was involved in “processing” Navalny’s clothing so that “there would be no trace.” The clothes Navalny wore when he was hospitalized in a coma have not been returned.

While posing as a Security Council aide, the politician asked “what went wrong” and why Navalny survived the poisoning. The man on the other side replied “everything would have turned out differently” if the plane had not made the emergency landing and “if (it had) not (been) for the fast work of the ambulance doctors on the runway”.

The man also reported that among Navalny’s clothing, his underwear had the highest concentration of toxic waste.

The Associated Press could not independently verify the identity of the man Navalny spoke to in the video. Russian authorities have yet to comment on the recording, which received more than 1.4 million views on YouTube within hours of publication.

Earlier this month, Russian officials ignored the investigation by Bellingcat and other media outlets.

Putin accused last week that the investigation was based on data provided by US spy agencies. Its authors have denied any link to the United States or any other Western intelligence service.

“It is not some kind of investigation, it is only the legalization of materials provided by the special services of the United States,” the Russian leader alleged during his annual press conference. He said that means Navalny “has the support of the United States special services.”

“It’s funny, and in that case, the special services should watch it,” Putin said. “But that doesn’t mean it is necessary to poison him. Who would need that?