This Thursday, the Russian authorities rejected any involvement in the poisoning of the opponent Alexeï Navalny. According to analyzes carried out by Berlin, the latter was the victim of a Novichok-type nerve agent
The Kremlin on Thursday rejected any involvement of the Russian state in the poisoning of the opponent Alexeï Navalny, victim according to Berlin of an attack with a Novichok-type nerve agent, denounced by the West. “There is no reason to accuse the Russian state,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov hammered to the press, calling on the West to refrain from any “hasty judgment” and stressing that Moscow is ready for a “dialogue” with Berlin and the Europeans in this matter.
According to the German government, extensive examinations carried out by a German army laboratory on the Russian opponent, hospitalized in Berlin, have provided “unequivocal proof” of the use against this 44-year-old Kremlin critic of a Novichok-type neurotoxic chemical agent.
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Developed by the Soviets in the 1970s as a chemical weapon, this agent is most often in the form of a fine powder capable of penetrating the pores of the skin or the respiratory tract. This same nerve agent had already been used against the former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in 2018 in England, according to the British authorities, who blamed the Russian state for it. The Skripal affair at the time provoked heavy Western sanctions against Russia, which rejected any involvement, and the serial expulsion of Russian diplomats around the world.
Economy in shock
After Germany confirmed the poisoning of Mr. Navalny in Novichok, the Russian economy woke up in shock on Thursday, amid fears of further sanctions against Moscow.
The ruble plunged as early as Wednesday night to its lowest level since the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in the spring, and the Moscow Stock Exchange also tumbled, the RTS index, denominated in dollars, falling more than 3% at the close Wednesday. “Russia’s relations with the West have again been poisoned by the Novichok,” the Russian daily Kommersant wrote Thursday, judging it obvious that the European Union and the United States are currently considering the implementation of new sanctions against Moscow.
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This situation could also have serious consequences for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, which was to supply Europe and in particular Germany with Russian gas. Although almost completed, the project has been on hold for several months due to threats of US sanctions.
Until now, Germany, the main European player in this project, condemned Washington’s position. But Bild, Germany’s most widely read newspaper, called on Thursday for the project to be stopped, claiming that “if the (German) government does not stop the construction of Nord Stream 2, we will soon be funding through (this project) attacks in Putin’s Novichok ”. Mr Peskov called the calls “emotional statements” and insisted that the pipeline project was “in the interests of Russia, Germany and the whole European continent”.
“Urgent” clarifications
Anti-corruption blogger, known for his investigations targeting Russian elites, Alexeï Navalny was hospitalized in Siberia at the end of August after being unwell on the plane. He was then transported to Berlin at the request of his family and remains “in serious condition”, according to the Berlin Charité Hospital. The German government on Thursday condemned “this attack in the strongest terms” and asked Russia for “urgent” clarifications on this poisoning. “Very serious questions are now being asked, which only the Russian government can and should answer,” warned German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union.
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For his part, Peskov insisted on Thursday that “no toxic substances” had been detected by Russian doctors before Mr. Navalny’s transfer to Berlin and lamented a “deficit” of information on the results analyzes carried out in Germany. “We hope that it will be possible to establish the origins of what happened, we have an interest in it, we wish it. But we need the information from Germany, ”said Dmitry Peskov.
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