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A Russian agent sent to track opposition leader Alexei Navalny revealed how he was poisoned in August: the deadly Noviciok neorotoxin was placed in his underwear.
The shocking revelation of an agent who is part of an elite FSB team came in a lengthy telephone conversation, following the unmasking of this unit by CNN and the Bellingcat research site last week.
Konstantin Kudryavtsev also spoke about other people involved in the poisoning of Alexei Navalny in the Siberian city of Tomsk and how he was sent to “clean up”. But the agent was not speaking by phone with an official of the Russian National Security Council, as he believed, but even with Navalny, who was on the verge of death after the August incident.
Navalny has long been a nuisance to Vladimir Putin, after he “harassed” power by making disclosures about corruption.
Putin confirmed, in principle, that FSB agents were chasing Navalny, but said that if Russia had wanted him dead, “it probably would have finished him.”
The Bellingcat-CNN investigation found that the FSB team, consisting of 6 to 10 officers, followed Navalny for more than three years. After identifying most of the team members, CNN and Bellingcat attempted to communicate with them and their superiors.
One man, Oleg Tayakin, closed the door on CNN reporters and others did not respond at all. At the same time, Navalny was making phone calls. At first he told the agents who he was and they interrupted the conversation. But for the last call to Kudryavtsev, his team decided on a different approach.
Like Navalny did
Navalny, who is still recovering in a secret location in Germany, has become a senior official in Russia’s National Security Council, tasked with conducting an analysis of the poisoning operation. His phone number was assigned a false “identity,” that is, the FSB headquarters number, according to Navalny’s team, and the call was recorded and then delivered to CNN and Bellingcat.
After Kudryavtsev confirmed his identity, Navalny said he had been tasked with obtaining “A short account of the team members: what did not go well, why was Tomsk’s operation with Navalny a total failure?”
Kudryavtsev’s 45-minute call provides the first direct evidence of the unit’s involvement in the Navalny poisoning. At one point, he expresses concern about speaking on an insecure line, but Navalny, speaking very firmly, manages to convince him that the bosses are requesting an urgent report and says that All this will be discussed in the Security Council, at the highest level. “
Why underwear was attacked
Kudryavtsev provided a detailed description of how the neurotoxin was applied to a pair of Navalny panties. Navalny asked: “What was the focus of the garment?” What is the most dangerous item of clothing? “
Kudryavtsev replied simply: “Boxer shorts”.
Navalny asked where, exactly, the Novicek was applied: the internal or external seams? “Inside, between the legs”Kudryavtsev responds.
Toxicologists consulted by CNN say that if it had been applied in granular form on clothing, Noviciok would have been absorbed through the skin when the victim began to sweat. They say that in this case, it appears that the attackers used a solid form of the neurotoxin, not a liquid or gel, as was done in the case of former double agent Sergei Skripal.
CNN has no information to confirm that Kudryavtsev was in Tomsk when the poison was applied. But the appeal showed that he had detailed knowledge of what had been done and that he was involved in the subsequent “clean-up” operation, to effectively erase Noviciok’s traces.
Navalny suddenly felt ill on a flight to Moscow, and the pilot landed in Omsk, where he received emergency treatment.
If the plane had flown to Moscow, Navalny would almost certainly have died, according to experts consulted by CNN.
Publisher: DC
