Published 17:17 IST, August 26th 2020
Navalny ally says Putin could have authorized 'poisoning'; Kremlin trashes allegation
Kremlin trashed “intentional poisoning” allegation,saying, it wasn’t ascertained what sent Navalny into a coma and there's no ground for criminal investigation.
A senior ally of Russia’s opposition political member Alexei Navalny on August 25 said that President Putin might have authorized the suspected poisoning of the outspoken leader, adding, such an act wouldn’t have been accomplished without an influential’s involvement. According to an AP report, Kremlin trashed the “intentional poisoning” allegations, saying, it wasn’t ascertained what sent the leader into a coma. Further, Russia’s government said that there were no grounds for criminal investigation based on hearsay theories and dismissed the statement as “hot air” and “untrue”.
Suspicious narratives have surfaced as Navalny, 44, was airlifted to Germany, after he collapsed on board the plane on his journey to Moscow from Siberia. Germany’s Charité hospital said in a statement that medics traced “cholinesterase inhibitors” in his system. Chancellor Angela Merkel was quoted by AP as saying that owing to his “prominent role in the political opposition in Russia, authorities there are now called upon urgently to investigate this crime in detail and in full transparency.” She added, Those responsible must be identified and held accountable.” As per Charité, while Cholinesterase inhibitors was a brood range of substance that can be found in several drugs, the specific drug Navalny might have been exposed to wasn’t immediately known.
“The patient is being treated in intensive care and remains in a medically induced coma. While his condition is serious, it is not currently life-threatening,” the hospital said in a statement.
A suspected “victim of attack”
Further, the German hospital reportedly informed an AP source that the doctors were treating the leader on antidote atropine. “Alexei Navalny’s prognosis remains unclear; the possibility of long-term effects, particularly those affecting the nervous system, cannot be excluded,” it said. Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert said in a press conference, “It was obvious that after his arrival, protective precautions had to be taken,” after reports of deployment of special federal agents and city police at the hospital emerged. Germany considered Navalny as a “victim of attack”, according to local reports. “Now our words have been confirmed by tests in independent laboratories. Navalny’s poisoning is no longer a hypothesis, it’s a fact,” Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said in a tweet.
Updated 17:17 IST, August 26th 2020