In update
The German government has announced that Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s main political opponent, has been poisoned with Novichok, BBC. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has already said that Navalny was “a victim of a crime” and that there was “an attempted murder by poisoning one of Russia’s leading opposition figures”, according to the Associated Press.
Drug tests show “unmistakable evidence” of a chemical nervous agent in the Novichok group, according to German government spokesman Steffen Seibert. Novichok was the same poison that left you unconscious Sergei Skripal, Russian double agent who passed secrets to British espionage, and his daughter. It is a neurotoxic substance for military use, which was developed in the 1970s in the Soviet Union. Alexei Navalny has been in a coma since August 20.
Statement by the federal government in the case #Nawalny. https://t.co/QzFIgdnLUs pic.twitter.com/ZBTLlJo4M4
– Steffen Seibert (@RegSsprecher) September 2, 2020
In a statement, the German government condemned the attack and asked the Russian government for explanations for what happened. And he added that the executive will inform his partners in the European Union (EU) and NATO about the results. And he added that Berlin will consult partners, depending on Russia’s response, “on an appropriate joint response”. Angela Merkel has already met with her ministers to decide how to proceed.
“It is true that Alexei Navalny was the victim of a crime“, Said the German Chancellor in reaction to the news. “They wanted to silence you and I condemn [o que aconteceu a Navalny] as vehemently as possible ”. “There are very serious questions now that only the Russian government can, and should, answer,” said Merkel, who described the event as “an attempted murder by poisoning one of Russia’s leading opposition figures.”
The Kremlin said it had not been informed by the German government that Alexei Navalny had been poisoned by a Novichok group chemist, Tass, a Russian news agency, said.
Alexei Navalny is already in Berlin. German doctors warn that diagnosis “will take time”
Supporters of Alexei Navalny accuse Vladimir Putin of being responsible for his poisoning, but the Kremlin has denied the charges.
Alexei Navalny felt bad on August 20 on a flight to Moscow, after drinking tea at an airport in Siberia. He was hospitalized in Omsk, Siberia, in a coma, but later, under pressure from the family and the team, was transferred to Charité hospital in Germany. Russian doctors who treated Navalny assured that found no trace of poisoning on the body of Putin’s opponent.
Navalny’s family and team suspected that he had been the victim of “intentional poisoning”.
Who is Alexei Navalny, the opponent that Putin wants out of the way
The European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, criticized this Wednesday the “despicable and cowardly act” of attacking Russian opponent Alexei Navalny with a neurotoxic agent, demanding the clearance of responsibilities.
“I was informed by the Chancellor [alemã] Angela Merkel that the Russian opposition leader Navalny was attacked with a neurotoxic agent in his own country. This is a despicable and cowardly act ”, condemns the leader of the community executive in a publication made on the social network Twitter.
I was informed by Chancellor Merkel that Russian opposition leader Navalny was attacked with a nerve agent, in his own country. This is a despicable and cowardly act – once again. Perpetrators need to be brought to justice.
– Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) September 2, 2020
And he demands: “The guilty must be brought to justice”.
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