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EU warns Navalny incident will negatively affect relations with Moscow, says Russian envoy

According to him, the European Union "has been strongly signaling to us that… the Navalny incident will negatively affect the entire range of relations between Russia and Belarus one way or another"

MOSCOW, September 16. /TASS/. European Union officials are signaling to Moscow that the situation surrounding Russian blogger Alexey Navalny will negatively affect the entire range of relations, Russian Envoy to the EU Vladimir Chizhov told Channel One’s Vremya Pokazhet (or Time Will Tell) show on Wednesday.

According to him, the European Union "has been strongly signaling to us that… the Navalny incident will negatively affect the entire range of relations between Russia and Belarus one way or another."

Chizhov pointed out that Russia had not refused to investigate the incident. "Moreover, we had called for cooperation before our partners here did, we suggested cooperating through official channels and the Prosecutor General’s Office… engaging experts, that is, professional medical workers. You know, a request was made on the matter but got rejected," he added.

Russia’s mission to the EU earlier sent nine requests to the European Parliament and EU institutions concerning the West’s accusations against Russia in relation to the Navalny incident, pointing to inconsistencies in the allegations.

Navalny incident

On August 20, a plane carrying Navalny made an emergency landing in the Russian city of Omsk after the blogger had suddenly felt unwell in mid-flight. Navalny was taken to the hospital in a coma and was hooked up to a ventilator. On August 22, he was flown to Germany for treatment at Berlin’s Charite hospital.

The German government said on September 2, citing the results of a toxicological analysis carried out by Bundeswehr experts, that Navalny had been poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Moscow was ready to fully cooperate with Berlin. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in turn, noted that Germany had failed to provide any evidence of poisoning.