Germany Identifies What Navalny Was Poisoned With

Novichok, same as Sergei Skripal
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 2, 2020 9:36 AM CDT
Germany Identifies What Navalny Was Poisoned With
In this Aug. 20, 2020, file photo, a protester holds a poster reading "Poison is the weapon of a woman, a coward, and a eunuch!" during a picket in support of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in the center of St. Petersburg, Russia.   (AP Photo/Elena Ignatyeva, File)

The German government left no room for interpretation on Wednesday, saying toxicology tests returned "unequivocal proof" that Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent from the Novichok group. Russia has denied that the opposition politician, who has been in a coma since falling ill in August on a flight from Siberia to Moscow, was poisoned at the direction of Vladimir Putin, but the BBC reports the German government isn't swallowing that.

CNN reports a German government rep called it "startling" that Navalny "was the victim of an attack with a chemical nerve agent in Russia." Germany asked Russia to explain what happened and said it "will discuss an appropriate joint response with the partners [meaning the EU and NATO] in the light of the Russian response." A Novichok nerve agent was also used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018. (More Alexei Navalny stories.)

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