HELSINKI, February 19. /TASS/. Russian Ambassador to Finland Pavel Kuznetsov, who visited the Finnish Foreign Ministry on Monday, said it is unacceptable to speculate on the death of Alexey Navalny, the embassy said.
"On February 19, Ambassador Kuznetsov was invited to the Finnish Foreign Ministry, where he was told that the Finnish government ‘holds Russia responsible for Navalny's death and expect an appropriate comprehensive and transparent investigation.’ The Russian side stated that speculation about what had happened was unacceptable, especially before the results of the forensic medical examination were made available. Unsubstantiated accusations of Russian ‘involvement’ in the incident were categorically rejected. It was also underscored that the death of a Russian citizen on Russian territory is exclusively a Russian internal affair, which we believe shouldn’t be meddled with," the embassy said on Telegram.
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.