BERLIN, February 16. /TASS/. The West's claims about the alleged poisoning of blogger Alexey Navalny (listed as a terrorist and extremist in Russia) with frog poison are the latest in a long line of lies meant to discredit Russia and keep Moscow from maintaining a normal dialogue with the West, said Russian ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechayev.
"This nonsense from European countries regarding the poisoning of blogger Alexey Navalny with dart frog poison are another unsubstantiated lie meant to discredit Russia, a clear manifestation of the irresponsible policy of the West aimed at dangerously ramping up tensions with our country," the Russian ambassador said in a comment.
"The authors of this carefully planned 'sensationalism' do not hide their goals – to accuse Russia of violating the BTWC and the CWC, and simultaneously undermine the attempts to establish a direct dialogue with Moscow, which has been increasingly talked about in Europe lately. It is absolutely obvious that, like with another high-profile fake story – about the poisoning of Alexey Navalny by the Russian Novichok – no evidence, samples or results of the investigation will be presented to the public."
That’s just not the West’s "method," he said.
"After all, the truth, in the eyes of the creators of this ‘method,’ is far from the biggest thing. There are too many in the West who are all-in on conflict with Russia – for domestic political, psychological, and commercial reasons. This means that it must be continued in any, even in the most unsightly ways. Russophobia truly has an ugly face," the Russian ambassador concluded.
On February 14, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden and France issued a joint statement claiming Navalny was poisoned using epibatidine, a poison extracted from the skin of an Ecuadorian dart frog. It is said the conclusion was made based on an analysis of samples of Navalny’s biomaterials. The countries accused Russia of an alleged violation of the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia views very negatively statements by Western governments regarding "conclusions" of the causes of Navalny’s death and strongly rejects them. The death of Navalny, who was serving his sentence in a penal colony in Yamal, became public on January 16, 2024. According to the colony’s administration, Navalny became ill and lost consciousness after a walk. Paramedics on the spot and an ambulance crew that arrived shortly thereafter tried to resuscitate him, but to no avail.