MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th November, 2020) The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is urging Russia to disclose all circumstances of the incident with opposition figure Alexey Navalny, the UK mission to the organization said, citing a joint statement of 56 OPCW members.
The UK mission said on Twitter it was "pleased to join 55 other States Parties in a joint statement" made at at the twenty-fifth session of the conference of the OPCW states parties and attached the statement itself.
"We urge the Russian Federation, on whose territory the attack on a Russian opposition figure took place, to assist the Conference in this role by disclosing in a swift and transparent manner the circumstances of this chemical weapons attack," the statement read.
The parties that signed the statement remarked on Russia's request of technical assistance from the OPCW technical secretariat, adding that they were looking forward to "the specifics of this request being finalised in order to enable a positive outcome."
Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia told Sputnik in early November that Moscow and the OPCW were discussing the conditions for a visit of an OPCW mission to Russia to look into Navalny's alleged poisoning.
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 that 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 opened its own investigation at the request of Berlin. The Kremlin has said that Berlin did not inform Moscow about its conclusions.
Russian prosecutors and police began a pre-trial investigation the day Navalny was hospitalized. According to the Kremlin, 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.
