Politics

Laboratories in Sweden and France confirm Navalny poisoning

(Update: adds Macron statement)

Berlin, Sep 14 (efe-epa).- Laboratories in Sweden and France have confirmed the poisoning of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny by Novichok, German authorities said Monday.

A German army laboratory had already determined Navalny was exposed to a nerve agent from the Novichok group and the government requested the other two countries carry out additional tests.

French President Emmanuel Macron urged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to explain the “attempted murder”.

Macron told Putin in a phone conversation that it is “imperative that all light be shed, without delay, on the circumstances of this attempted murder and who is responsible,” the Elysee said in a statement.

Berlin also reported the case to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons whose laboratories are carrying out analyses, according to German government spokesman Steffen Seibert.

German authorities are also considering the next steps with its European partners, he added.

Navalny collapsed during a flight from Siberia to Moscow on 20 August, forcing an emergency landing in Omsk before he was treated at a local hospital.

Russian doctors who treated him have said they found no traces of poisoning and attributed the collapse to metabolic problems.

Navalny was transferred to Berlin on 22 August after a request from his family and team and is being treated at Charité University Hospital.

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