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WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said the United States must consider “very seriously” the alleged poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but that his administration has yet to see any evidence.
“It’s tragic. It’s terrible, it shouldn’t happen. We don’t have any proof yet, but I’ll take a look,” Trump told a news conference, before telling reporters that they should focus on China, not Russia.
Trump did not take as firm a position as the State Department, which on Friday expressed grave concern over the finding that Navalny was poisoned.
In a meeting in Washington on Friday morning, Under Secretary of State Stephen Biegun told Russian Ambassador Anatoliy Antonov that Moscow’s use of this chemical weapon would be a clear violation of its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention.
“The undersecretary urged Russia to fully cooperate with the international community’s investigation into this attack,” department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.
Germany, where Navalny is in a hospital, has said the Russian opposition figure was poisoned with a Soviet-style Novichok nerve agent and wants the perpetrators to be held accountable. Russia has so far not opened a criminal investigation and said there is no evidence of a crime yet.
Navalny is President Vladimir Putin’s most popular and prominent opponent, and the German announcement this week that he was poisoned by a nerve agent has raised the possibility of further Western sanctions against Moscow.
