Tests prove Navalny poisoned
SPECIALIST labs in France and Sweden have confirmed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok, the German government said yesterday. A German military laboratory previously confirmed the substance in his samples.
German government spokesperson Steffen Seibert said the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was taking steps to have samples from Navalny tested at its reference laboratories.
“Independently of the ongoing examinations by the OPCW, three laboratories have confirmed independently of one another the proof of a nerve agent of the Novichok group as the cause of Mr Navalny’s poisoning,” Seibert said.
He said Germany had asked France and Sweden for an “independent review” of the German findings. German officials said labs in both countries, as well as the OPCW, took their own new samples.
Navalny, the most prominent opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was flown to Germany two days after falling ill on August 20 on a domestic flight in Russia and is being treated at Berlin’s Charite hospital. Berlin has demanded that Russia investigate the case.
Seibert yesterday renewed Germany’s demand that “Russia explain itself”. He added: “We are in close consultation with our European partners on further steps.”
The Kremlin has bristled at calls from Chancellor Angela Merkel and other world leaders for Russia to answer questions in the case, denying any official involvement and accusing the West of trying to smear Moscow.
Russian authorities have prodded Germany to share the evidence that led it to conclude “without doubt” that Navalny was poisoned with a military nerve agent from the Novichok group, the same class of Soviet-era agent that British authorities said was used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, in 2018. Berlin has rejected suggestions from Moscow that it was dragging its heels.
Seibert wouldn’t identify the French and Swedish labs. But the head of the Swedish Defence Research Agency, Asa Scott, told Swedish news agency TT: “We can confirm that we see the same results as the German laboratory.”
Asked why no samples have been given to Russia, German Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Adebahr said: “Mr Navalny was in Russian treatment in a hospital for 48 hours.There are samples from Mr Navalny on the Russian side. The Russian side is called on, even after three independent labs have established the result, to explain itself. Russia has... all the information and all the samples it needs for an analysis.”
Navalny has been receiving treatment in Germany, where he was transported from Russia after his health condition deteriorated, prompting speculation that he had been poisoned.
Yesterday, the Charite clinic in Berlin said Navalny had been removed from mechanical ventilation and that he was able to leave his bed.
Meanwhile, the ruling United Russia party secured landslide wins at weekend regional elections but lost its majority in a Siberian city council contested by supporters of Navalny, partial results showed yesterday. Supporters of the opposition politician made rare gains in the Siberian city of Tomsk and won seats in the city of Novosibirsk along with other opposition groups.
But pro-Kremlin politicians backed by Putin won, or were heading for landslide wins, to serve as the governors of more than a dozen regions. They confirmed the overall dominance of United Russia, which supports Putin, but showed an uptick in opposition support in parts of Siberia where Navalny had focused his attention.