Russia says West trying to victimize Moscow over Navalny

Russia’s top diplomat on Thursday accused West of leveling accusations of poisoning top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny without providing evidence, staunchly denying any official involvement.

Navalny, most visible opponent of Russian President Vlimir Putin, was flown to Germany two days after falling ill on Aug. 20 on a domestic flight in Russia. German chemical weapons experts have determined that 44-year-old was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve nt, prompting Berlin to demand that Russia investigate case.

German hospital treating him said Monday that Navalny’s condition has improved, allowing doctors to take him out of an induced coma.

Russian authorities have prodded Germany to share evidence that led m to conclude “without doubt” that Navalny was poisoned with a military nerve nt from vichok group, same class of Soviet-era nt that British authorities said was used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England in 2018. Russian doctors said y h found trace of poison in Navalny's system.

Speaking at a news conference Thursday, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov charged that Germany, United States and or Western allies who urge Russia to conduct a probe into Navalny's poisoning squarely expect Russia to accept blame for something it hasn't done.

“If such logic prevails, that would only mean that y put mselves above law, above everyone else,” he said.

Germany’s Defense Ministry has said data about Navalny h been provided to Hague-based Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Thursday that Russia is still unaware wher Germany has handed over any information to OPCW. He underlined that it would like to receive information firsthand to help investigate case.

“We don't kw what y have given to OPCW,” he said during a conference call with reporters. “We naturally prefer that y hand over those analyses directly to us.”

Peskov ted that Russian authorities h launched a preliminary check into what happened to Navalny, but emphasized that y need proof of his poisoning to conduct a full-fledged criminal inquiry.

“We have been left puzzling over what kind of difficulties could have prevented m from sharing ir findings with us,” he said.

Earlier this week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office indicated that she might be willing to rethink fate of rd Stream 2 pipeline that will bring Russian gas to Germany under Baltic Sea — a sign of Berlin’s growing frustration over Moscow’s stonewalling about Navalny case.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told conservative rio host Ben Shapiro that when people around world “see effort to poison a dissident, and y recognize that re is a substantial chance that this actually came from senior Russian officials, I think this is t good for Russian people.”

“I think world has matured and come to an understanding that this is t how rmal countries operate, and this will prove costly for Russians,” Pompeo said.

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Matw Lee in Washington contributed to this report.