8/26/20
MOSCOW -- The Kremlin says it does not want the hospitalization of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny to damage relations between Moscow and the West, but is opposed to saying that Navalny was "poisoned" until medical tests confirm finding a specific toxin in his body. Germany, the United States, and other Western countries have called on Moscow to open an investigation into why Navalny collapsed on a Russian commercial flight from Siberia last week. Those calls came after German doctors said their initial medical examination pointed to poisoning. The renowned Charite hospital in Berlin, where Navalny is being treated, said on August 24 that "clinical findings indicate intoxication by a substance from the group of active substances called cholinesterase inhibitors." Charite said the specific substance to which Navalny was exposed isn't yet known but that a further series of comprehensive tests had been started. Despite increasing evidence that Navalny was attacked with poison, the Kremlin insists that the German medical examinations have been inconclusive. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on August 26 that "there is no reason" for the disagreement to damage Russia's relations with the West. "Of course we don't want this to happen," Peskov told reporters.
The 44-year-old anticorruption campaigner is a staunch critic of President Vladimir Putin. He was being treated at Berlin’s Charite hospital where he remained in an induced coma on August 26. But on August 26, Peskov asked journalists rhetorically, "How can we talk about poisoning if there is no poison?" On August 25, Peskov had claimed that German doctors were "rushing" to use the word "poisoning." Navalny’s supporters say they think he was poisoned when he drank tea purchased at the Tomsk airport in Siberia before boarding his flight. His rapidly deteriorating condition during the flight forced the plane he was traveling on to make an emergency landing in Omsk, where he spent two days in a hospital before being airlifted to Berlin. According to a Russian newspaper report, Navalny had been under surveillance by Russian federal security agents during his trip to Siberia. The United States, NATO, and European countries have called on Russia to conduct a swift investigation into the suspected poisoning. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told journalists on August 26 that he backs calls for a transparent Navalny investigation, while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also called on August 26 for an independent probe into the case.