No proof he was poisoned: Trump

WASHINGTON: Russia defied threats of new sanctions over the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, as US President Donald Trump said on Friday he hasn’t yet seen proof that the Kremlin critic was a victim of Moscow’s Novichok nerve agent programme.

Trump, however, said the US must look “very seriously” into the suspected poisoning of the Russian opposition leader. “It’s tragic. It’s terrible, it shouldn’t happen. We haven’t had any proof yet, but I will take a look,” Trump told reporters.

He did not take as strong a stand as the state department, which on Friday expressed grave concern about the finding that Navalny was poisoned.

In a meeting in Washington, DC on Friday, deputy 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 deputy secretary urged Russia to cooperate fully with the international community’s investigation into this attack,” department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.

Navalny is the most popular and prominent opponent of President Vladimir Putin, and the German announcement this week that he was poisoned by Novichok has raised the possibility of further Western sanctions against Moscow.

The 44-year-old lawyer fell ill on a Siberian flight last month and was sent to Germany for treatment. He has been in a coma for the past two weeks. The Kremlin has denied responsibility for the attack.