Alleged ‘poisoning’ of opposition figure Navalny was ‘provocation’ aimed at discrediting Russia in eyes of world, Moscow claims

The hospitalization of prominent opposition figure Alexey Navalny was a planned provocation aimed at discrediting Russia. That’s according to the Foreign Ministry, in a text published a day before the incident’s first anniversary.

Navalny, a well-known anti-corruption campaigner and protest leader, fell ill last August on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow. Following an emergency landing, he was immediately hospitalized in the Siberian city of Omsk. Two days later, after a request from his family and associates, the activist was flown to Germany for treatment at Berlin’s Charité clinic. 

Shortly after, German authorities announced that the opposition figure was poisoned with a nerve agent from the Novichok group, a finding later reportedly confirmed by laboratories in both Sweden and France. The medical team in Omsk denies that any poison was found in Navalny’s body.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the entire story was pre-fabricated by the West.

“The actions taken over the past 12 months by the German authorities and their allies clearly indicate that a planned provocation was carried out against our country,” the ministry claimed. “This unflattering conclusion is based on the following objective facts.”

As evidence, Moscow says that the case was “immediately followed by an aggressive propaganda campaign by Western and affiliated Russian news agencies,” supposedly centered around the allegation that the ‘blogger’ was poisoned at the behest of the authorities.

According to the ministry, the ‘Navalny case’ was coordinated by Germany and the Technical Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Moscow has sent a total of eight requests for international legal assistance to Berlin but has received no reply, the statement said.

“Berlin and its allies do not miss any opportunity to use the hype around Navalny, artificially created with their own direct contribution, as a reason for new attacks on us,” the ministry concluded. “It was for these purposes that the ‘Navalny case’ was played out.”

The Russian conclusions directly contradict those promoted by Western nations, which allege Moscow tried to kill the opposition figure. Following the claims by German scientists that Novichok was found in Navalny’s body, the EU and US imposed targeted sanctions against Russia and influential figures linked to the government.

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