NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th November, 2020) Moscow and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) are working on a memorandum that will determine the conditions for a visit of an OPCW mission to Russia to look into the alleged poisoning of opposition figure Alexey Navalny, Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia told Sputnik.
"The talks are ongoing. We have invited the OPCW mission to visit Russia in accordance with an article of the Chemical Weapons Convention. A memorandum is being agreed to list on what conditions they will come to us and what they will do. This memorandum is agreed with any country where an OPCW mission goes at the request of the country itself," Nebenzia said.
The exact dates have not been agreed yet, the diplomat said.
Navalny was hospitalized in the city of Omsk on August 20, after he fell ill on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow. Doctors in Omsk diagnosed him with metabolism malfunction, which led to a sudden change in blood sugar levels. It is unclear what caused that, but Omsk doctors found no trace of poisonous substances in his blood and urine.
Navalny was later transported to Germany. Shortly after his arrival in a clinic in Berlin, the German government claimed, citing military doctors, that he had been poisoned with a Novichok-type nerve agent. Berlin then said that the conclusions of Germany were backed by laboratories in Sweden and France. The OPCW has opened its own investigation at the request of Berlin. The Kremlin has said that Berlin did not inform Moscow about its conclusions. The Russian Foreign Ministry said Russia was still waiting for a reply from Germany on this issue.
Russian prosecutors and police began a pre-trial investigation the day Navalny was hospitalized. Kremlin has said that the probes were opened de facto and if the poisonous substance was confirmed, they would be launched de jure as well. The Kremlin said Russia was ready to cooperate with Europe on this incident but would need some information first.
The German government, meanwhile, did not deny the reports of German intelligence having had access to Novichok-type poison since the 1990s.
The clinic in Berlin said that Navalny was discharged on September 23 in a satisfactory condition, with a chance at full recovery.
