Alexei Navalny blames Vladimir Putin for poisoning him

Prominent Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny says he believes President Vladimir Putin was responsible for his poisoning.

“I claim that Putin is behind this act, I don’t see any other explanation,” he told German news magazine Der Spiegel in an interview.

Germany, where Mr. Navalny is recovering, says he was poisoned by a Novichok nerve agent. Their findings were confirmed by laboratories in France and Sweden.

The Kremlin denies any involvement.

In response to Thursday’s interview, Putin’s spokesman said there was no evidence that Navalny had been poisoned with a nerve agent and said CIA agents were working with the opposition leader.

Navalny collapsed during a flight in Russia’s Siberia region on August 20. He was transferred to Charity Hospital in the German capital, Berlin, two days later.

“If 30 people have access to [chemical] agent, not three, so it’s a global threat, “the 44-year-old told the magazine.

Speaking of his experience, Mr. Navalny said, “He is not in pain, but he knows he is dying. Right away.”

It was only due to “a series of fortunate circumstances” that he was able to receive urgent medical attention and survive, he said. Otherwise, “it would have been a suspicious death.”

When asked why the Russian president would attack him, Navalny spoke of the recent unrest in the far eastern province of Khabarovsk.

“The Kremlin realizes that it must take extreme measures to prevent a ‘situation in Belarus,'” the opposition leader said, referring to weeks of mass protests against the government there after a disputed election.

“The system is fighting for its survival and we just felt the consequences.”

Navalny was released from the hospital in Berlin last week and is still undergoing physical therapy to help him recover.

“I will continue traveling through the regions of Russia, to stay in hotels and drink the water in the rooms. What else should I do?”

The EU and several governments have asked Russia to investigate the Navalny poisoning.

A nerve agent from the Novichok group was also used to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England in 2018. They both survived, but a local woman, Dawn Sturgess, died after coming into contact with the poison.

Britain accused Russia’s military intelligence of carrying out that attack. Twenty countries expelled more than 100 Russian diplomats and spies. Moscow denied any involvement.