The Berlin Clinic Charité assumes that the Putin critic has been poisoned. The European Union strongly condemns the alleged “attack on Navalny’s life”.
In the case of the allegedly poisoned Kremlin critic Alexej Navalny, the EU is demanding an “independent and transparent investigation” from Russia. The European Union strongly condemns the alleged “attack on Nawalny’s life”, said EU foreign affairs representative Josep Borrell on Monday evening in Brussels.
The Berlin Charité Clinic, where the prominent critic of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is treated, assumes, after a detailed investigation, that the 44-year-old was poisoned.
It is “imperative” that the Russian authorities “without delay” initiate an independent investigation into the alleged attack on Navalny’s life, demanded Borrell. The Russian people as well as the international community wanted to know “the facts behind Mr. Navalny’s poisoning”. Those responsible for this would have to be “held accountable”.
The German government had previously urged Moscow to be cleared up. The Russian authorities are “urgently called upon to investigate this crime to the last – and that in full transparency,” declared Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. “Those responsible must be identified and held accountable.”
No acute danger to life
The anti-corruption activist was admitted to a hospital in Omsk, Siberia, on Thursday after suffering severe convulsions and fainting while on a flight to Moscow. Nawalny’s entourage assumes that he was poisoned by a tea he drank shortly before departure. Navalny was then flown to Berlin, where he has been treated at the Charité since Saturday.
The Berlin clinic said on Monday that its previous findings indicated poisoning “by a substance from the group of active substances called cholinesterase inhibitors”. The specific substance is not yet known. Navalny is being treated with the antidote atropine.
“The outcome of the disease remains uncertain, and long-term effects, especially in the area of the nervous system, cannot be ruled out at this point in time,” said the Charité. Navalny is in intensive care and is still in an artificial coma. His state of health is serious, but there is currently no acute danger to his life.
Russian doctors deny allegations
A few hours after the notification from the Charité, however, the Russian doctors said that their examinations had not found any evidence of poisoning with a cholinesterase inhibitor. Navalny had been tested in Omsk for a whole range of substances, including cholinesterase inhibitors, the chief toxicologist of the emergency hospital number 1 there, Alexander Sabayev, told Russian news agencies: “The result was negative”.
The Siberian disaster control ministry added that the hospital in Omsk was ready to hand over all the results of the laboratory tests carried out at Navalny as well as material samples to the doctors in Berlin. MRI recordings have already been forwarded. Boris Teplysch, chief anesthetist at the Omsk Clinic, told Russian news agencies that Navalny had been given atropine just minutes after he was hospitalized.
The doctors in Omsk rejected allegations that on Moscow’s instructions they had concealed the cause of the disease and initially kept Navalny in their hospital to make it more difficult to detect the poison later: “We have not agreed a diagnosis with anyone,” said chief physician Alexander Murachowski . No outside pressure was put on them.
In their diagnosis, the Russian doctors named a “metabolic disorder” as a possible cause of Navalny’s breakdown. You had initially resisted his relocation to Berlin. It was not until Saturday morning that Navalny was finally brought to the German capital in an ambulance plane chartered by German supporters.
(APA / AFP)
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