The representatives of NATO countries will meet today to discuss the issue of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The German government reported on Wednesday that it had “unambiguous evidence” that Navalny had been poisoned with novichok.
Novichok, the collective name for a group of nerve agents, was developed in the 1970s and 1980s in the Soviet Union as a chemical weapon. In 2018 became the Russian former spy Sergei Skripal poisoned with it in England, along with his daughter. They barely survived. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) listed novichok as a banned substance after the poisoning, along with other nerve agents.
The OPCW called Navalny’s poisoning one earlier this week “alarming” use of chemical weapons.
German officials will inform the 29 allies of the investigation today. Navalny is in a coma in a German hospital after becoming unwell on August 20 on a flight from Siberia to Moscow.
The European Union calls on Russia to cooperate with the OPCW so that an impartial international investigation can be conducted into the poisoning of Navalny. The Russian government denies any involvement in the poisoning of Navalny.
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