Russian Foreign Ministry announced signs of staging in Navalny case

The behavior of Western countries suggests that FBK founder Alexei Navalny, who is now undergoing treatment in Germany, is being staged in the hospitalization case, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in an official statement.

“The actions of Germany were so well-adjusted that it began to raise a lot of questions as to whether we are dealing with another statement on the theme of the mystical use of chemical weapons, but now not in Syria and Great Britain, but in Russia,” in the message. The Foreign Ministry explained that the operativeness with which Berlin declared its readiness to accept the policy for treatment, as well as the participation of representatives of the Bundeswehr in his transportation, is suspicious.

“All these organizational issues, it seems, were the components of a plan to politicize this incident with an understandable goal – to accuse Russia of violating the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC),” the department said. The Foreign Ministry stressed that the German authorities ignore the requests of the Prosecutor General’s Office on the circumstances of Navalny’s hospitalization, and also hide the evidence illegally withdrawn from Tomsk.

The Russian Foreign Ministry added that a quick examination of Navalny’s analyzes in Germany, France and Sweden speaks of extensive experience in working with toxic substances, including the Novichok group’s poisons. In addition, the Foreign Ministry noted that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has gone beyond its powers, and sending requests from the Russian authorities to it is not competent, since Berlin has proven its technical expertise. Finally, the Foreign Ministry believes that the objectivity of the OPCW itself now raises questions.

Navalny was hospitalized and fell into a coma in Omsk on August 20, and on August 22 he was taken to Germany for treatment. On September 7, he was taken out of a coma, and on September 23 he was discharged from the hospital. The FBK founder will remain in Germany to continue treatment for at least a few more weeks, but plans to return to Russia. Moscow demands from Berlin to send the results of the oppositionist’s survey for study so that in the future it will be able to investigate the circumstances of the incident, and the German authorities suggest the Russian side to contact the OPCW. So far, the fact of Navalny’s poisoning in Russia has not been confirmed, since Omsk doctors did not find traces of poison in his analyzes.