Russia demands Germany hand over data on Navalny poisoning within 10 days
The Russian Permanent Mission to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) sent a note to its German counterparts demanding that all information on Alexei Navalny’s poisoning case be passed on, reported the mission’s press service.
"On September 23, the Russian Permanent Mission sent a note to the German Permanent Mission to the OPCW with a demand to the German side to give us exhaustive information on Nanalny’s case, in particular, the results of analyses, biomaterials and other clinical samples of the Russian citizen," the Russian mission said in a statement.
According to Russian representatives, under the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Germany must provide data within ten days. Russia has also asked Germany, France and Sweden to honor their legal aid obligations.
On September 23, the French newspaper Le Figaro reported that the Navalny tests were also conducted at the OPCW-accredited laboratory in France. The examination of the samples took place under the control of the Directorate General of Armaments of France.
"We conducted tests that confirmed the use of neurotoxin," the newspaper quoted the French Defense Ministry's press service as saying.
Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny was hospitalized in Omsk on August 20 after he became ill on board a plane flying from Tomsk to Moscow. On August 22, he was transferred to the Charite hospital in Berlin. On September 2, the German government stated that laboratory tests showed the traces of a poisonous substance from the Novichok group in the politician's body.