The West is trying to make the Navalny topic almost the main one in the dialogue with Russia, giving Moscow an ultimatum demand to open a criminal case on the alleged poisoning, while actually hiding the key "evidence," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.
"In a situation where Western countries are trying to make the Navalny topic almost the main one in the dialogue with our country, I would like to reciprocally share my assessments of the practical steps taken by the actors of this story in the sphere of politics and propaganda, which are in the focus of our official interests," Lavrov said when asked to comment on an open letter from Russian neurologist Vitaly Kozak, who is working in Switzerland.
Earlier, media circulated an open letter from Kozak, in which he commented on the article in The Lancet journal about Navalny's alleged poisoning with nerve agent Novichok, pointing to a number of ambiguities and contradictions in it. In particular, he noted that the wording about the so-called "Novichok" in the article was rather vague.
Lavrov, in turn, noted that the Russian Prosecutor General's Office requested from the German Justice Ministry all information about the results of the research carried out by the Bundeswehr, including the transfer of "all relevant evidence."
"Despite full compliance of our demands with a number of conventions on the provision of legal aid, including the Chemical Weapons Convention, we were not provided with any factual information. Under various pretexts, the German side refused to provide copies of medical documents, medical history, forensic medical examinations, toxicological and other laboratory studies," Lavrov said.
At the same time, the minister added, "refusing to satisfy the official requests of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office in good faith, the German authorities first referred to the fact that information on this matter was classified, since its publication would allow the Russian side to understand what knowledge the Bundeswehr had in the field of chemical weapons." Then, the reasoning changed: they began to emphasize that Alexey Navalny did not allow the transfer of any information, including his personal data, to the Russian side, Lavrov recalled.
He drew attention to the fact that the technical secretariat of the OPCW "has undertaken non-transparent procedures to assist Germany".
"And as a result, it announced the correctness of the conclusions of Berlin, Paris and Stockholm, but refused to disclose the specific formula of the substance allegedly found in the patient's biomaterials: they say, we did it by order of the Germans, so contact them. That is, we are offered to take their word for it, while putting forward in an unacceptable ultimatum demands that the Russian law enforcement agencies initiate a criminal case on what they claim to be the "proven fact of poisoning" of Navalny with a chemical warfare agent. Logical indications that in this case these Western countries are hiding the key evidence of a possible crime, which, according to our laws, is necessary to open a criminal case, are swept aside without a clear explanation," the minister emphasized.
According to Lavrov, Russia can draw the attention of the leadership of the technical secretariat of the OPCW, as well as Germany, France and Sweden to the information published by Kozak, and ask them to comment on this data. "If he doesn't mind," Lavrov added. (/Sputnik)
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor