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NAVALNY'S ALLEGED POISONING

Russia expects OPCW to respond to doctor’s letter on Navalny incident

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Kozak’s letter to Russian top diplomat Sergey Lavrov raised a number of difficult questions concerning a Lancet article on the alleged use of a chemical warfare agent against Navalny

OPCW Headquarters, The Hague EPA-EFE/KOEN VAN WEEL

OPCW Headquarters, The Hague

© EPA-EFE/KOEN VAN WEEL

MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/. Moscow expects the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and Western countries to respond to the letter of Switzerland-based doctor Vitaly Kozak, which concerns the alleged poisoning of blogger Alexey Navalny, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday.

According to her, Kozak’s letter to Russian top diplomat Sergey Lavrov raised a number of difficult questions concerning a Lancet article on the alleged use of a chemical warfare agent against Navalny. The West has given no clear response to it yet, Zakharova noted. At the same time, Lavrov’s comments on some of the issues raised in the letter were published on February 8. Later, the Russian Foreign Ministry sent messages to OPCW Director General Fernando Arias and the top diplomats of Germany, France and Sweden, asking for comments on the concerns Kozak had expressed.

"We expect the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Berlin, Paris and Stockholm to give a response on the matter," Zakharova noted. "It’s time to start providing evidence, dear colleagues and do it with the same enthusiasm that you showed when you made your assessments," she added.

The Russian foreign minister said in his response to Kozak’s letter that he shared his opinion that all questions and reasonable concerns related to the matter required clarification.

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