NATO chief condemns attack on Russian
Stoltenberg agrees nerve agent used, calls on Kremlin to answer ‘serious questions’
BRUSSELS — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday condemned the “appalling assassination attempt” on Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny and called on Moscow to answer questions about the poisoning to international investigators.
Navalny, a Kremlin critic and corruption investigator, fell ill on a flight to Moscow on Aug. 20 and was taken to a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk. He has been in an induced coma in a Berlin hospital since he was flown to Germany for treatment more than a week ago.
German authorities have said that tests showed that he had been poisoned with a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group. British authorities previously identified the Soviet-era Novichok as the poison used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England in 2018.
“There is proof beyond doubt that Mr. Navalny was poisoned using a military-grade nerve agent from the Novichok group. The use of such a weapon is horrific,” Stoltenberg said after chairing a meeting of NATO ambassadors during which Germany briefed its allies on developments.
“Any use of chemical weapons shows a total disrespect for human lives and is an unacceptable breach of international norms and rules. NATO allies agree that Russia now has serious questions it must answer,” he told reporters.
Stoltenberg said Moscow must cooperate with the international chemical weapons organization in “an impartial, international investigation” and provide information about its Novichok program.
On Friday evening, state television in Belarus released what it claimed to be the recording of an intercepted telephone call of German and Polish representatives suggesting the German allegation of poisoning was fake.
In the English-language recording, overdubbed in Russian, a purported German official identified only as “Nick” says a report on the case is being prepared to be sent to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The purported Pole asks if the report confirms poisoning.
“Listen, Mike, in this case that’s not so important. There’s a war going on, and in war all methods are good,” Nick replies. The other man says Russian President
Vladimir Putin must be discouraged from interfering in Belarus and that “the most effective way is to drown him in the problems of Russia.”
Belarus has been shaken for the past four weeks by wide-scale calls for the resignation of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko in the wake of an allegedly fraudulent election that gave him a sixth term in office.
Russian authorities have appeared reluctant to investigate what caused Navalny’s condition, saying there had so far been no grounds for a criminal investigation. Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said Friday that a preliminary inquiry was ongoing, but added that he saw no signs of a crime in what happened to the most determined critic of Putin.
Russia is still waiting for information from German officials on the exact poison, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, brushing off calls from Berlin for a full explanation.
“Our doctors have been much more transparent with journalists and all other interested parties than their colleagues in Berlin,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call Friday. “We are counting on dialogue with our German colleagues and expect in that process to get information on what the substance is.
“We prefer to be consistent and cautious about highlighting theories of what happened to the Berlin patient,” Peskov said, avoiding the public use of Navalny’s name in line with Kremlin practice.
“We have nothing to hide,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday, asserting that German authorities had stonewalled Russian requests for information.
Lavrov said the failure to provide information about Navalny’s poisoning could indicate a lack of evidence.
“Our Western partners allow themselves to make arrogant demands in such a tone that suggests that they have nothing but pathos to put on the table,” he said.
Earlier Friday, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert insisted it was up to Moscow to answer questions about what had happened to Navalny.
“Russia has information about the poison attack or can obtain them, not us,” he told reporters in Berlin.
“Numerous samples were taken in Russia, and objects were seized,” Seibert said. “We expect the Russian government to explain itself in this case.”