DISINFO: Novichok-poisoning of Alexei Navalny was a made-up and staged production
SUMMARY
Why should Putin have taken back his alleged order of assassination? Why is it suddenly enough for him to put his arch-rival away for 2.5 years? This defies all logic. Even more so the inexorable logic of an assassination warrant – unless there was no [assassination warrant]. It has been made-up. And the Novichok story was nothing but a staged production.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative portraying the poisoning of prominent Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny as a staged production. In this narrative, the poisoning is interconnected with the detention and imprisonment of Navalny in Russia.
The prominent Russian opposition leader Alexei 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.
At the request of the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, a specialist Bundeswehr laboratory carried out toxicological tests on samples from Alexei Navalny. The results of these tests have revealed unequivocal proof of the presence of a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group. The European Union has condemned in the strongest possible terms the assassination attempt on Alexei Navalny. The EU sanctioned 6 individuals and 1 entity over the use of chemical weapons and the assassination attempt on Navalny.
Indisputable evidence exists that chemical weapons was used in the assassination attempt on Navalny. After Germany requested its technical assistance, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), where Russia is a member, issued a statement verifying previous statements by the German authorities. Several reports have indicated that the OPCW tests showed that blood and urine samples contained a "cholinesterase inhibitor" similar to two Novichok chemicals that were banned by the Hague-based body in 2019. The OPCW findings corroborated earlier independent conclusions by German, French, and Swedish laboratories.
Read also similar disinformation cases alleging that the Western intelligence agencies are working with Navalny, or that the West will falsely accuse Russia of poisoning Navalny, as with Skripal and Litvinenko.
See related disinformation messages blaming the West for Navalny's condition, and alleging that only alcohol and caffeine was found in Navalny blood.