DISINFO: The CIA cooperates with Navalny
SUMMARY
The American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) works together with Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny. Instructors are working and it is clear what kind of instructions Navalny receives. The opposition politician is working for their interests. Navalny’s cooperation with Western secret services is evident: for instance, Russian authorities have not received the medical records and biological samples of Navalny from German counterparts. The Navalny poisoning is being used to stir up tensions in Russia to block Moscow from protecting Belarusian sovereignty, but those who “wanted to gain Belarus” failed.
RESPONSE
Recurring disinformation narrative about the West's involvement in the poisoning of Alexei Navalny and tensions in Belarus. There are no grounds for connecting any Western secret service to Navalny's poisoning. The activist fell ill on a 20 August flight from Siberia to Moscow. Initially hospitalized in Omsk, he was transferred to the Charité hospital in Berlin at the request of his family. Clinical findings at the Charité hospital indicated that Navalny was poisoned with a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors. Subsequent toxicological tests revealed the presence of a Novichok-type nerve agent in Navalny's blood. The entire article is based on the statements of Russian ruling party politicians and officials, such as the Kremlin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, Duma chairman Vyacheslav Volodin and Duma Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky. The statements of Russian politicians were shared uncritically, without any evidence backing up the claims. Moreover, the article did not disclose that the German Justice Ministry approved a request from Moscow for legal assistance in the investigation of the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny on 11 September, including giving information on Navalny's health to Russia, "subject to his consent." No evidence was presented either on how the case of Navalny is connected to tensions in Belarus.