© Reuters/Shamil Zhumatov/Kremlin/Aleksey NikolskyAlexey Navalny • Russian President Vladimir Putin
Western media wasted no time in accusing the Russian government of attempting to kill Moscow protest leader Alexey Navalny with poison,
but basic common sense points against the conspiracy theory, an Italian expert has argued.Navalny fell ill last week during a commercial flight and was rushed to a hospital after his plane made an emergency landing in the Siberian city of Omsk. Two days later, he was flown to Germany to be treated at the Charité University Hospital in Berlin. Doctors there said his symptoms indicate
poisoning with a cholinesterase inhibitor - a type of chemical encountered in certain medicines, insecticides, and nerve agents.
Since the start of Navalny's ordeal, his inner circle has been accusing President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government of trying to assassinate the activist and of running a cover-up operation after the attempt failed.
This narrative was swiftly adopted by mainstream media in the West. Some Western governments have
threatened to impose a new round of sanctions against Russia over the case.
Yet even if criminal intent is proven in the case,
basic common sense undermines the ever-popular formula of 'poisoning + Russia = Putin', according to an article published by the Italian magazine
Formiche on Saturday.
The piece was penned by Igor Pellicciari, Professor of History of International Relations at the University of Urbino, who also teaches at MGIMO University, Moscow's top school for career diplomats.
Comment: In this ever-changing saga to determine the cause(s) of Navalny's medical issues, there are more than enough bogus theories to go around - including revisiting already debunked explanations:
Update, 2/9/2020
The Novichok theory:
If Alexey Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, he'd be dead already. That's according to the creators of the lethal chemical, who say the Russian opposition figure's symptoms suggest German assertions on Wednesday are inaccurate.
Berlin insists its Bundeswehr [military] laboratory found traces of poison from the Novichok family in the anti-corruption campaigner's system.
But the scientists behind its development - Leonid Rink and Vladimir Uglev - have dismissed the German claims. They say Novichok is supposed to be an extremely deadly nerve agent and there's no way Navalny could have survived its application. Furthermore, Uglev has pointed out that others who interacted with the Moscow protest leader after he fell ill - fellow plane passengers, ambulance crews, etc. - would also have been contaminated.
Rink told media outlet RIA Novosti. According to him, if Novichok was used:
"The symptoms are absolutely not similar, Navalny would have had seizures, and he would have already died, instead of falling into a coma. "He'd be resting at the cemetery for a long time (already), that's all.
"I believe that the use of chemical warfare substances: sarin, soman and Novichok (A-234) can be excluded from the list of possibilities. Apart from Navalny himself, the people around him would be also stricken in one form or another."
According to media reports, Uglev and Rink are among the founders of the Soviet Novichok chemical weapons programme. Until 1991, both of them worked at the Volsk branch of the State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology in Shikhany, part of the Saratov Region.
Update, 2/9/2020 The '
someone wanted to silence Navalny' theory:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Moscow to "answer questions that only the Russian government can answer." Describing Navalny as "the leading opposition politician in Russia," an assertion not borne out by Russian polling, she said somebody wanted to "silence" him.
She said she had already held a phone conversation with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and before that - a joint meeting with the ministers of finance, justice, defense and the interior.
[Russian] Foreign Ministry said it was still waiting for Germany to reply to an official request from the office of Russia's Prosecutor General regarding the opposition figure's condition.
Update, 2/9/2020 Another flimsy reason to
blame Russia without evidence or facts:
The Russian Ministry of Foreign affairs has published a statement in which it lashed out at Berlin after the German government claimed that Navalny was "poisoned" by "Novichok class nerve agent." Germany has been neglecting bilateral cooperation mechanisms that would allow Russia to investigate the situation, Moscow says.
"It seems that somebody restricts [the] German Justice Ministry, as well as [German] medical workers, from speaking to their Russian colleagues."
Despite the fact that Russian doctors, who managed to save his life in those crucial hours, were also willing to share all their information with their German colleagues, both of the requests have remained unanswered, Moscow says.
"If the goal is to justify certain pre-planned 'response measures' announced earlier, it becomes clear why mouthpiece diplomacy, substitution of proper cooperation with an information campaign, public addresses to EU and NATO and mentioning of the OPCW are being used."
See also:
Comment: More on the Navalny nothing-burger: