BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th October, 2020) Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechayev said Russian diplomats were still ready for contacts with Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, should the need arise.
In an interview with the Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung, when asked about Navalny's role in Russia, Nechayev said he had not closely followed his activities, but in Berlin he treated the Russian blogger "like any other Russian citizen."
"When Navalny regained consciousness in the clinic, the Russian embassy offered him consular assistance. Given the increased security of the patient at [the] Charite [hospital], we had to first apply for mediation to the German Foreign Ministry. Colleagues replied that they were not hindering contacts. But this response came only after Navalny was discharged from the clinic. So we are still ready for them [contacts] if the need arises," he said.
The Russian Embassy in Berlin requested consular access to Navalny, Nechayev reported earlier. Later, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the Russian Embassy in Berlin "received a refusal from the German Foreign Ministry to a request for assistance in providing consular access to Navalny." However, the German Foreign Ministry said earlier it saw no reason to deny consular access to Navalny, but the Russian himself should decide whether to receive the diplomats.
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 the blood sugar level. 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.
