Russian opposition blogger Alexey Navalny has confirmed on Monday that German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited him while he was undergoing treatment at Berlin's Charite hospital
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th September, 2020) Russian opposition blogger Alexey Navalny has confirmed on Monday that German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited him while he was undergoing treatment at Berlin's Charite hospital.
On Sunday evening, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported that Merkel conducted a secret visit of the hospital while Navalny was hospitalized after falling ill in late August.
"There was a meeting, but it is not worth calling it 'secret.' Rather, it was a private meeting and conversation with my family. I am very grateful to Chancellor Merkel for visiting me in hospital," Navalny wrote on Twitter.
Navalny fell ill on a flight from the Siberian city of Tomsk to Moscow on August 20. He received immediate medical care from Russian doctors and was eventually transported to Germany for treatment.
The German government later said that traces of a nerve agent from the Novichok group were identified in Navalny's system after tests were conducted. Russian doctors have said that no traces of a poisonous substance were found in samples taken from the blogger.
Berlin has made a request to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to assist with the investigation into the incident. The Russian government has expressed its desire to cooperate with its German counterparts, and Russian diplomats on Wednesday sent a note asking the OPCW's German delegates to share all information.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday accused the German government of concealing evidence and expressed concern over the OPCW's potential bias in the investigation.
