BERLIN/MOSCOW – Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who is in intensive care in a Berlin hospital, was poisoned with a Soviet-style Novichok nerve agent in an attempt to murder him, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday.
She said Berlin now expected Moscow to explain itself and that Germany would consult its NATO allies about how to respond, raising the prospect of new Western sanctions on Russia, sending Russian asset prices tumbling.
Moscow has denied involvement in the incident and the Russian foreign ministry said Germany’s assertion was not backed by evidence, complaining about the way Germany had chosen to release information about Navalny.
“This is disturbing information about the attempted murder through poisoning against a leading Russian opposition figure,” Merkel told a news conference. “Alexei Navalny was the victim of an attack with a chemical nerve agent of the Novichok group.”
Novichok is the same substance that Britain said was used against a Russian double agent and his daughter in an attack in England in 2018. The deadly group of nerve agents was developed by the Soviet military in the 1970s and 1980s.
Navalny, 44, is an outspoken opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has specialised in high-impact investigations into official corruption. He was airlifted to Germany last month after collapsing on a domestic Russian flight after drinking a cup of tea that his allies said was poisoned.
The Kremlin, which has rejected any suggestion that it or the Russian state was involved, said it wanted a full exchange of information and that Germany and Russia should cooperate. But it added it was unable yet to give a proper statement about the German findings.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry, told state TV that the German move looked like another fact-free information campaign against Russia.
Russian authorities and doctors have said previously they could find no evidence Navalny was poisoned.
Russia is already under Western sanctions after its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine six years ago. Another standoff with European nations or the United States may further hurt its economy further.
Britain and France joined in condemning the use of Novichok, along with the European Union, which said those responsible must be brought to justice.
Berlin’s Charite hospital, which is treating Navalny, said he remained in a serious condition in an intensive care unit connected to an artificial lung ventilator even though some of his symptoms were receding.
It said it could not rule out long-term consequences from his poisoning and that it expected him to go through a long period of illness. (Reuters)
