BERLIN — The German authorities mentioned on Wednesday that the Russian opposition chief Aleksei A. Navalny, who’s being handled in Germany, had been poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok, and demanded an evidence from Moscow.
Novichok is similar nerve agent that was used to poison Sergei V. Skripal, a former Soviet spy, and his daughter in a 2018 assault in Britain that Western nations have attributed to Russia.
Toxicology exams carried out by a German Military laboratory revealed the “likely presence of a chemical nerve agent of the Novichok group” in the system of Mr. Navalny, who was flown to Germany on Aug. 22 after he collapsed whereas on a flight from Siberia to Moscow.
“The German authorities condemns this assault in the strongest attainable phrases,” Steffen Seibert, a spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel, mentioned in a press release. “The Russian authorities is urgently requested to clarify what occurred.”
The Kremlin mentioned it was not knowledgeable of Germany’s findings earlier than the announcement, the Russian state information outlet Tass reported. The German Overseas Ministry will inform the Russian ambassador of the findings, Mr. Seibert mentioned.
