MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th October, 2020) Moscow is surprised that German doctors identified the Novichok nerve agent in the medical tests of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, Alexander Shulgin, Russia's permanent representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said.
"A number of capitals, primarily Berlin, are trying to present the case as if Alexey Navalny was poisoned with a toxic substance that can be classified as an advanced super-class chemical weapon. They do not even think that they are painting an absolutely grotesque picture, which can't be called otherwise than fantasy," Shulgin said at the 95th session of the OPCW Executive Council.
He said Russia was wondering how military chemists from the Bundeswehr could have found traces of Novichok in the samples.
"Since the Germans, as we recall, have always maintained that they have never synthesized any Novichok-like substances, but for some reason they almost instantly found out what the 'Berlin patient' had allegedly been poisoned with and, without naming specific chemicals, announced this to the entire world," Shulgin said.
The OPCW said Tuesday that a substance similar to nerve agent Novichok, but not included on the lists of banned chemicals, had been found in Navalny's organism. The German government said the OPCW's statement in the Navalny case confirmed his poisoning with a Novichok group substance but admitted that the substance was not banned. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the story around Navalny continued in line with a pre-planned conspiracy scenario.
Navalny was hospitalized in the city of Omsk on August 20 after he fell ill on board a plane. Based on the results of tests, local doctors called the main diagnosis a metabolic disorder, which caused a sharp change in blood sugar. It is not yet clear what caused it, but according to Omsk doctors, no poisons were found in Navalny's blood and urine.
Later he was transported by plane to Germany. After that, the German government announced, citing military medics, that Navalny had allegedly been poisoned with a substance from the Novichok group of toxic warfare agents. Later, the German cabinet said the conclusions of German experts had been confirmed by laboratories in Sweden and France, in parallel, at Berlin's request, the OPCW is conducting its own research.
In this regard, the Kremlin stated that Berlin had not informed Moscow of its findings, and the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that Russia was waiting for a response from Germany to an official request on this situation. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that in a month Russia had sent Germany three requests for legal assistance on the situation with Navalny, and no answers had been received.
Berlin clinic Charite reported on September 23 that Navalny had been discharged from the hospital, his condition was satisfactory, and doctors did not rule out his complete recovery.
