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Russia does not expect assistance in Navalny case from new German government — envoy

Alexander Shulgin ealier said that Moscow had answered a request from a group of OPCW states parties on the situation with Navalny and initiated a counter-inquiry to Germany, France, Sweden and the OPCW Technical Secretariat

MOSCOW, November 2./TASS/. Russia does not entertain any hope that the new German government will provide information on the incident with Russian blogger Alexey Navalny, Russia's permanent representative to the OPCW, Alexander Shulgin told an online briefing on Tuesday.

"As far as I understand, the new German government has not been formed as of yet. Let us wait and see. But what we are seeing now does not inspire much hope," Shulgin said in reply to a question.

Earlier, Shulgin said that Moscow had answered a request from a group of OPCW states parties on the situation with Navalny and initiated a counter-inquiry to Germany, France, Sweden and the organization’s Technical Secretariat. According to the diplomat, in the presence of all members of the OPCW Executive Council, Russia once again handed over to Germany, France and Sweden a list of questions that necessitate answers "in order to complete pre-investigation checks by the Interior Ministry."

Navalny was hospitalized in Omsk on August 20, 2020, after he fell sick aboard a plane. Later, he was transferred to Berlin. On September 2, the German government claimed that the blogger was poisoned by a Novichok-family nerve agent. According to Berlin, these conclusions were confirmed by laboratories in France and Sweden. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said repeatedly that Moscow is ready for comprehensive cooperation with Germany, noting that no poisonous substance was found in Navalny’s body prior to his transfer to Berlin.