Germany Says Russian Dissident Alexei Navalny ‘Without A Doubt’ Poisoned By Novichok Nerve Agent

Germany’s government on Wednesday confirmed via hospital tests that Russian dissident Alexei Navalny was poisoned by a nerve agent belonging to the Novichok group.

Toxicology test results from a German military hospital produced results showing “unequivocal evidence” that Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, a German government spokesperson said.

The 44-year-old political activist and the country’s most vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin was airlifted to Germany for treatment after falling ill in August.

Russian doctors treating him in Siberia before his medical evacuation denied that he had been poisoned, and blamed his comatose on a metabolic disease caused by low blood sugar.Navalny’s allies say he became ill after something was put into his tea at an airport cafe.

A Kremlin spokesperson said Berlin did not directly inform Moscow that Germany believes Navalny was poisoned with Novichok.

Novichok was used in the poisoning of Russian ex-spy and U.K. double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in England in 2018. The U.K. government blamed the attack on Russia, while Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement.

The affirmation by Germany’s medical specialists “very clearly points at Russian state responsibility,” Carl Bildt, co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, wrote on Twitter.

Navalny is Russia’s most prominent opposition figure, and has led popular protests against Putin’s government leading to his arrest and frequent targeting and has been consistently barred from running in local elections. In July last year, he was hospitalized from a detention center, where he was held on administrative arrest after organizing peaceful demonstrations. Authorities said Navalny had suffered an allergic reaction, although the politician himself believes he was poisoned.

Navalny, like many other lawmakers in Russia, has frequently been detained by authorities and harassed by pro-Kremlin groups. In 2017, he was attacked by several men as they threw anti-septic in his face, damaging one eye.A staunch critic of Putin, Navalny had campaigned to challenge the president in the 2018 election, but he was blocked from standing for office.

– CNBC