Navalny’s team described how he obtained evidence of poisoning on his own. He filmed everything

“He was healthy, it wasn’t just unconscious”

The key person from Navalny’s entourage was Marina Pevchich, who lived permanently in Britain, who was one of the six people who accompanied Navalny, and after his collapse, she avoided questioning the Russian police and disappeared.

She now said that soon after receiving the news of the Naval Coma, she and other members of the Naval escort had headed to the hotel room from which Putin’s critic had checked out the morning before traveling to the airport.

“There was nothing to think about – it was the only thing we could do in the situation. If he was poisoned, traces had to be kept, and this was the only way to secure them,” she told the Russian BBC.

“Alexei was a healthy person. I know, we spent a few days with him, first in Novosibirsk and then in Tomsk. Healthy people don’t just fall into a coma. We knew something was wrong. It’s just Russia,” said Pevchichova. which is active in the Navalny Anti-Corruption Foundation FBK.

“We searched the room”

According to her, they entered the room accompanied by a hotel employee (probably a maid) and filmed everything on video, which they later published on Instagram. “At first they didn’t want to let us in, so we guarded the door to the room to make sure that no one in front of us would enter. We literally put a chair in front of the door and took turns on it,” Pevčichová said.

According to her, they had no plan for how to proceed, so after entering the room, they decided to film everything. They put on rubber gloves, which they now carry everywhere with them due to a coronavirus infection. They collected all the things that the leader of the Russian opposition could have in his hand.

“We gathered everything he could touch,” Pevčichová confirms. The video shows that the members of the Naval Team are actually packing various items in blue plastic bags, including three plastic water bottles. The maid’s voice also reads from the recording: “If you want to take something, you will need a police permit, the director (of the hotel) told me.”

“Unfortunately, we cannot comply with this request,” said one of the members of the Naval Team.

According to her, Pevčichová and the others reckoned that the chances of finding something useful were slim. And the hope that they would be able to take the collected things away, smuggle them out of Russia and hand them over for independent investigation was, according to her, completely “microscopic”.

Adventure trip from Russia

There is no direct flight from Tomsk to Omsk, the plane with Navalny landed in Omsk only because it was an emergency. The Pevčich team therefore traveled from Tomsk to Novosibirsk and from there flew to Omsk. According to Pevčichová, he “strategically” placed everything he had gathered in the various luggage of the team members in order to attract as little attention as possible.

When the Russian authorities finally allowed Navalny to be transported from Omsk to Berlin, accompanied by his immediate family, Pevchich was also on board his plane. “If we had not taken the bottles out of Tomsk, they would have disappeared without a trace,” he continues.

According to her, she is convinced that her trip to Berlin with secured vials will bring evidence that Navalny was poisoned before he arrived at the airport. But the bottle itself was not a source of poison, according to the BBC.

Navalnyj was in a coma during this time. German researchers said that they had succeeded in “clearly demonstrating” poisoning with the nerve paralytic substance of the novices, and that their findings were also confirmed by laboratories in France and Sweden.

However, according to the Kremlin, tests of samples taken from Navalny in Omsk have not yet found any toxic substances in his body. Although Russia does not completely reject the idea of ​​being poisoned, according to Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Germany would have to provide the Russian government with information “that has been denied to us so far.”

The attack was targeted, according to the specialist

According to the BBC, it is not yet known how and when Navalny was poisoned, or whether anyone else was at risk of poisoning or contamination.

Biological weapons expert Vladimir Uglev had previously told the BBC that in his view the attack was more targeted than the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Julie in Salisbury in March 2018. ” therefore less dangerous for others, “says Uglev.

According to the Navalny spokesman, traces of the novelty were found on only one of the water bottles, but not on any of his other things.

German investigators have not yet reached the clothes Navalny was wearing on the day he collapsed. Navalny called on Russia to release the clothes, but representatives of the Russian hospital told the Tass news agency that what Navalny was wearing was confiscated by Russian investigators and they did not know about the future of the matter.

The critic of the Russian government has so far remained in Germany, where he is to complete rehabilitation, but is said to plan to return home. “We hope to find out one day how Alexei was poisoned,” says his team leader. “We have no idea yet. But it’s not up to us to investigate.”

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