Germany: Russian opposition leader poisoned with Novichok


Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday that Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny who was airlifted to Berlin in a coma, was the victim of attempted murder and the world should look to Russia for answers. German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said toxicological tests on samples taken from Navalny had been carried out at a German military laboratory. He said they provided “unequivocal evidence of a chemical nerve agent” from the Novichok group.

His team says he was poisoned on President Vladimir Putin’s orders. The Kremlin has dismissed the allegation. The Kremlin spokesman called on Germany for a full exchange of information and foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova complained the Novichok allegations were not backed up by evidence. ”

A Novichok nerve agent was used to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK in 2018. While they survived, a British woman later died in hospital. The UK accused Russia’s military intelligence of carrying out that attack.

 

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