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Germany dismisses Lukashenko’s claims Navalny’s poisoning was faked as untrue

Earlier on Thursday, Lukashenko stated that Warsaw and Berlin had discussed a plot to fabricate Alexei Navalny’s "poisoning"

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko Andrei Stasevich/BelTA/TASS

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko

© Andrei Stasevich/BelTA/TASS

BERLIN, September 3. /TASS/. The statement made by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko claiming that Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny’s alleged poisoning was faked is untrue, a representative of the German government told TASS on Thursday.

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Lukashenko says Minsk intercepted chat proving Navalny’s poisoning was utter fabrication

"Mr. Lukashenko’s statement is untrue, naturally," the official said, noting that "there is nothing to add" to the statements made by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer regarding Navalny’s alleged poisoning.

Earlier on Thursday, Lukashenko stated during a meeting with Russian PM Mikhail Mishustin that Warsaw and Berlin had discussed a plot to fabricate Alexei Navalny’s "poisoning" to "discourage Putin from sticking his nose in Belarusian affairs," citing an intercepted conversation between unnamed German and Polish officials.

Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny was hospitalized in Omsk on August 20, after his health deteriorated rapidly during his flight from Tomsk to Moscow. Upon hospitalization, Navalny was in a coma and then hooked up to a ventilator. On August 22, he was transferred to the Charite clinic in Berlin. On Wednesday, the German government claimed that Navalny’s tests revealed traces of an unidentified poisonous substance from the notorious Novichok group.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed Thursday that Russian specialists discovered no poisonous substance during Navalny’s stay at the Omsk hospital. He stressed that Russia is undoubtedly interested in determining the cause of the incident, adding that the information from Germany’s authorities would help the investigation understand what happened to Navalny. Peskov mentioned that the Ministry of the Interior is carrying out a pre-investigation inspection and all the necessary investigative procedures.

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