UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab and his German counterpart, Heiko Maas, have agreed to work together to hold Russia accountable for breaching international laws related to Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny's suspected poisoning with a nerve agent from the Novichok group, the UK Foreign Office announced on Friday
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th September, 2020) UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab and his German counterpart, Heiko Maas, have agreed to work together to hold Russia accountable for breaching international laws related to Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny's suspected poisoning with a nerve agent from the Novichok group, the UK Foreign Office announced on Friday.
Soviet-era chemical weapons research ended in Russia under the 1992 presidential decree. Twenty-five years later, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said Russia had completely destroyed its chemical weapons stockpile under its verification.
"The Foreign Secretary and Maas agreed that any use of Novichok was a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, and therefore a matter of international concern. They agreed to work together closely, including in the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), to ensure Russia was held accountable for its international obligations," the official statement said.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson was also quoted as saying that during his Thursday conversation with Maas, the UK foreign secretary "made clear that Britain would stand shoulder to shoulder with Germany on the issue."
Navalny is currently undergoing treatment in a German hospital after suffering an acute medical condition in Russia in late August. Berlin on Wednesday said that a German military laboratory possessed undeniable proof that the opposition politician had been intoxicated with a nerve agent from the Novichok group.
The Russian Foreign Ministry noted in response that the German government's claims of Navalny's poisoning lacked evidence and added that it was perplexing why Berlin first addressed the EU, NATO and third parties, such as the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, instead of contacting Russia directly.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier in the day that there had been no contacts between Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the issue of Navalny. He also noted that Russia was interested in shedding the light on the situation as much as anyone else, however, Germany did not provide any information.
