DISINFO: Navalny affair is an intelligence war
SUMMARY
The case of the alleged poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny is nothing more than an intelligence war. The fact that the Russian security services were following him does not mean that they also poisoned him.
RESPONSE
Recurring disinformation narrative surrounding the poisoning of prominent Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny.
Navalny fell ill during a flight from Siberia to Moscow on the 20th of August. Initially hospitalised in Omsk, at the request of his family he was transferred to Charité hospital in Berlin, where clinical findings indicated that he was poisoned with a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors. Subsequent toxicological tests provided unequivocal evidence of a chemical nerve agent of the Novichok group in his blood samples.
Recently, more information was published on how Russian security services were following Navalny. Russian independent outlet The Insider has, together with the investigative teams of Bellingcat, CNN, Der Spiegel and El Pais, carried out a detailed investigation, establishing the methods used, the individuals that performed the attack and the connections to the Russian state security services, the FSB. Additionally, on Tuesday 15 December, the Kremlin’s press service decided to cancel all press meetings and refused to comment on the evidence provided in the investigation. Eventually, on the 17 December, Vladimir Putin denied Russia was behind the poisoning, calling a recent investigation by Bellingcat a “falsification”.
See similar cases claiming that there is no evidence Navalny was poisoned and that the Navalny case is used to push for anti-Russian sanctions , and that the West uses the Navalny case to stop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and to hurt Putin