Russia's Navalny accuses Putin of being behind poisoning

Russian opposition leer Alexei Navalny, who is recovering in Germany after being poisoned in Russia by a nerve nt, accused Russian President Vlimir Putin of being behind attack in comments released Thursday. Navalny's supporters have frequently maintained that such an attack could have only been ordered at top levels, though Kremlin has stefastly denied any involvement in it. Navalny, a politician and corruption investigator who is Putin's fiercest critic, was flown to Germany two days after falling ill on Aug. 20 on a domestic flight in Russia.

He spent 32 days in hospital, 24 of m in intensive care before doctors deemed his condition h improved sufficiently for him to be discharged. He has posted frequent comments online as his recovery has progressed, but in his first interview since attack, he told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine that in his mind, “Putin was behind attack,” in a German translation of his comments.

“I don't have any or versions of how crime was committed," he said in a brief excerpt of interview conducted in Berlin on Wednesday and to be released in full online later Thursday.

Navalny spent those two days in a coma in a hospital in Siberian city of Omsk, where Russian doctors said y found trace of any poisoning, before being transported to Berlin for treatment. German chemical weapons experts determined that he was poisoned with Soviet-era nerve nt vichok- findings corroborated by labs in France and Sweden.

nerve nt used in attack was same class of poison that Britain said was used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, in 2018. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called poisoning an attempted murder and she and or world leers have demanded that Russia fully investigate case.

Russia has bristled at demands for an investigation, saying that Germany needs to share medical data in case or compare tes with Russian doctors. Germany has ted that Russian doctors have ir own samples from Navalny since he was in ir care for 48 hours.

Germany has also enlisted Hague-based Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for technical assistance. ncy has collected independent samples from Navalny for testing, but results haven't yet been anunced. German doctors have said Navalny could make a full recovery, though haven't ruled out possibility of long-term dam from nerve nt. Spiegel said Navalny was joking and alert in interview with m, though his hands shook so much it was difficult for him to drink from a bottle of water. He also reiterated what his team has previously said — that he planned on returning to Russia when he was able.

“My job w is to remain guy who isn't scared,” he was quoted as saying. “And I'm t scared.”

(Im Credits: AP)

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