DISINFO: OPCW hides the chemical which "poisoned" Navalny
SUMMARY
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) keeps hiding the chemical type which was supposedly used in the poisoning of Alexey Navalny. In the latest Russian request, Germany repeated the same points from the previous OPCW report.
RESPONSE
The story advances a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative concerning the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
The prominent Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny fell ill during a flight from Siberia to Moscow on the 20th of August 2020. 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.
Russia keeps trying to question these results. However, indisputable evidence exists. 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.