TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th October, 2020) While the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has found a poisonous substance in the samples of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, but it did not establish who had administered it, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters when asked about sanctions against Russia over the Navalny case.
Last week, the organization confirmed Navalny's samples contained traces of a toxic substance, albeit not one registered by the organization as prohibited. On Monday, High Representative of the European Union Josep Borrell said that the bloc's foreign ministers had approved the proposal put forward by Paris and Berlin to impose sanctions on Moscow over a suspected role in the poisoning of the Russian opposition figure.
"The OPCW studied Navalny's samples at the request of the German government and found a poisonous substance. At the same time, the OPCW did not identify who used this substance. The use of chemical weapons is an inhuman act. Whatever the circumstances, their use is unacceptable. The Japanese government hopes for early clarification of the truth and will cooperate closely with countries concerned," Kato said on Monday.
The Russian opposition figure was hospitalized with suspected poisoning in the Siberian city of Omsk on August 20 after feeling unwell during a domestic flight. While Russian doctors found no traces of poisons in his samples and suggested he could have suffered an abrupt drop of glucose in his blood due to metabolic disbalance, Germany � where Navalny was subsequently transported to for treatment � claims to have evidence of his poisoning with a nerve agent from the Novichok group. In response, Russia has demanded that Germany provide evidence and make case materials available to Russian investigators.
Navalny was let go from the Charite hospital in Berlin on September 23. The man himself is convinced that the Kremlin is behind his poisoning. Russia has slammed the whole case as a plotted conspiracy theory, pointing to multiple inconsistencies in Berlin's statements and the extreme politicization of the OPCW.
