Navalny says he was interrogated in Germany

Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny said on Thursday he was interrogated by German prosecutors on demand of the Russian Office of the Prosecutor General. Speaking during his weekly YouTube show, Navalny said he couldn't watch Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual news conference, which had been held on the same day, as German prosecutors were interrogating him following the demand of Russian prosecutors.

"In reality I was interrogated by Russian Prosecutor's office," said Navalny, noting that German prosecutors were reading questions from the list sent by Russian prosecutors. Navalny also said after the news conference that Putin effectively confirmed an investigative report which found that that the Federal Security Service was shadowing him for nearly four years. He also reaffirmed that he was planning to return home from Germany to continue his fight against the Kremlin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday rejected allegations that the Kremlin was behind the poisoning of his top political foe.Speaking via video hookup during his annual marathon news conference that lasted 4 1/2 hours, the Russian leader countered the accusations by saying that if the Kremlin wanted to poison Navalny, it would have succeeded.

Navalny fell sick on August 20 during a domestic flight in Russia and was flown while still in a coma to Berlin for treatment two days later.Labs in Germany, France and Sweden, and tests by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, established that he was exposed to a Soviet-era Novichok nerve agent.

(Image Credit: AP)