MINSK, September 4. /TASS/. Belarus’ state television channel ONT on Friday released a recording of a telephone call about the incident with Russian opposition blogger Alexei Navalny that was intercepted by Belarusian intelligence.
In the English-language recording of the call between Berlin and Warsaw provided in Russian translation, two individuals discuss the materials on Navalny. The caller from Berlin says that everything proceeds as scheduled and the materials will soon be referred to the German chancellor’s administration. The chancellor, according to him, is to come out with a statement soon.
When asked by the Polish official whether Navalny’s was really poisoned, the caller from Berlin said it doesn’t matter since any methods are good in warfare.
The caller from Warsaw says that the scandal could be used to discourage Russian President Vladimir Putin from trying to influence the situation in Belarus and the best way to do it to drone him in Russia’s problems, especially now, ahead of elections in Russian regions. The Berlin caller says he is addressing that matter.
Further on, the callers discuss the situation in Belarus and the caller from Warsaw admits that things are not that good as he would want as President Alexander Lukashenko has proved to be a "tough nut to crack," with Russia supporting him and officials and the military being loyal.
During talks with visiting Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Thursday, Lukashenko said Belarus’ intelligence had intercepted a telephone call between Warsaw and Berlin proving that allegations about Navalny’s poisoning by a Novichok-type toxic agent was a fabrication. He did not say however who were the callers.
According to Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov, the recording was shared with the Russian Federal Security Service on the same day.
Meanwhile, the German government dismissed Lukashenko’s statement as being not true.
Navalny felt sick on August 20 while flying from Tomsk to Moscow and the plane made an emergency landing in Omsk. The man was taken to hospital in a state of coma and was connected to a ling ventilator. He was airlifted to the Berlin-based Charite clinic in the morning on August 22. Its doctors said that indicators of poisoning had been found in his body. According to the doctors, the symptoms of poisoning have gradually abated.
On Wednesday, the German government said that German military toxicologists had found that Navalny had been exposed to a nerve agent of the Novichok family. Berlin demanded Moscow clarify the circumstances of the incident. The Russian side, in turn, said it is interested in a thorough investigation of the incident. However, according to the Russian foreign ministry, the German side has provided no evidence to ground its theory of the incident.