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Russian envoy summoned to Czech Foreign Ministry over Navalny’s death

The Russian Embassy has not yet commented on the situation

PRAGUE, February 21. /TASS/. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky has summoned Russian Ambassador to Prague Alexander Zmeevsky over the death of Alexey Navalny, the CTK news agency said.

"I confirm that Minister Lipavsky has made a decision to summon the Russian ambassador over the death of Alexey Navalny. The Czech Republic urged to investigate the circumstances of his death and explain why the body has not been handed over to the family of the deceased," the news agency quoted Czech Foreign Ministry Spokesman Daniel Drake as saying.

The Russian Embassy has not yet commented on the situation.

On February 16, the directorate of the Federal Penitentiary Service for the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region reported that Navalny died in prison. According to the agency, the blogger felt unwell after a walk and fainted. Doctors immediately began providing medical aid, trying to resuscitate him for over half an hour.

On February 17, the UK Foreign Office summoned the minister counselor of the Russian Embassy over Navalny’s death. In the following days, Russian diplomats have also been summoned to the foreign ministries of Germany, Spain, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Finland, France, Sweden and Estonia. On February 19, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said that Russia must allow a "transparent international investigation" into Navalny’s death. 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.

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