VILNIUS, February 19. /TASS/ Russian Charge d'Affaires in Latvia Oleg Zykov has been invited to the Baltic republic's Foreign Ministry to talk about Alexey Navalny's death, the Russian embassy has said.
"During the meeting, the Latvian side voiced politically biased and wholly unrealistic views of the Alexey Navalny's death, attempting to unsubstantiatedly blame the authorities of our country for what happened," reads the statement published on the embassy's Telegram channel.
"We emphasized that any unsubstantiated accusations against Russia and any kind of speculation on the subject are categorically unacceptable," the message notes. Meanwhile, the Russian Embassy regarded the statements of the Latvian leadership "as another blatant attempt to interfere in Russia's internal affairs."
The Federal Penitentiary Service’s Directorate for the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region said on February 16 that Navalny had died in a penal colony. According to the agency, Navalny felt sick after a walk and fainted. Doctors arrived immediately but their more than 30-minute resuscitation efforts failed. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov slammed the West’s statements concerning Navalny’s death as rabid and totally inadmissible, given that there is no official information about the cause of his death.