BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th September, 2020) German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and his French counterpart, Jean Yves Le Drian, issued on Friday a joint statement on the ongoing affair involving Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, who Berlin claims was poisoned with a nerve agent of the Novichok group.
"They are both appalled by this attack on Mr Navalny, which constitutes a most serious blow against the basic principles of democracy and political pluralism. They note that this attack on the physical integrity of a Russian opposition figure was sadly not an isolated incident. They express in this context their expectation that the Russian authorities will guarantee the conditions for the exercise of fundamental civil and political rights by the Russian people," the statement, published on both ministries' websites, read.
The European diplomats added that they both stood for an absolute ban on the use of chemical weapons.
"Together with their partners they will coordinate with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to consider the implications of this event and, if need be, will seek the support of this organisation," the statement added.
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.
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 OPCW, instead of contacting Russia directly.
