Tom Balmforth
ReutersTue, 06 Oct 2020 16:36 UTC
© Instagram / @navalnyRussian opposition politician Alexei Navalny is pictured at Charite hospital in Berlin, Germany, in this undated image obtained from social media September 22, 2020.
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny said he believed Russia's intelligence services had poisoned him with a rare nerve agent because authorities saw him as a threat ahead of next year's parliamentary elections.
"They understood that there were big, big problems threatening them ahead of elections for the State Duma," Navalny said in a YouTube interview with a Russian blogger, his first video appearance since being discharged from a Berlin hospital.
The Kremlin has rejected any suggestion that President Vladimir Putin or the Russian authorities were responsible for Navalny's condition.
Navalny said he did not know how a Novichok nerve agent had got into his system, but that he could have touched something.
Comment: Navalny is no threat Russia and her citizens know it:
Levada Center: Only 11% of Russians fully believe opposition figure Navalny was poisoned, just 8% blame governmentOPCW has finally accepted an
invitation from Moscow to send its people to Russia and will allegedly cooperate in their Navalny investigation. That said, Russia has good reason not to trust the organization:
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has accepted an invitation from Moscow to send experts to Russia. They will cooperate with their Russian counterparts in investigating the Alexey Navalny case.
Last month, the OPCW offered technical assistance to the German government, after Berlin announced that the Russian opposition figure, and well-known anti-corruption activist, had been attacked with a nerve agent from the so-called "Novichok group." The Germans cited an analysis of samples conducted by their military specialists.
In the OPCW's press release, the organization explained that it is "ready to provide the requested expertise" to Moscow, thanking Russia for "its trust in the Technical Secretariat's independence and expertise."
...
On Monday, Russia's permanent representative to the United Nations accused the OPCW of being politically motivated. "Let us say frankly: the Technical Secretariat is becoming a tool that the West uses to exert informational and political pressure on 'unwanted' countries," Vasily Nebenzya said. "Involvement of the Technical Secretariat in anti-Russian campaigns also supports this conclusion."
Last month, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov complained that Moscow was not getting the desired level of cooperation from the OPCW. Russia also claims to have requested information from Berlin about Navalny's condition, such as toxicology reports, but officials say that, thus far, they have received nothing.
Comment: Navalny is no threat Russia and her citizens know it: Levada Center: Only 11% of Russians fully believe opposition figure Navalny was poisoned, just 8% blame government
OPCW has finally accepted an invitation from Moscow to send its people to Russia and will allegedly cooperate in their Navalny investigation. That said, Russia has good reason not to trust the organization: