After Navalny was transported to Germany for further medical treatment at the Charite hospital, Berlin claimed that a nerve agent from the Novichok group was found in his blood and urine samples. Germany, however, refused Russia's request for the results of the research, saying it is a military secret.
“I claim that Putin is behind the crime and I don't have any other versions of what happened”, Navalny told Der Spiegel during an interview that is set to be fully published later in the day.
The accusation was published just days after the magazine reported that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had secretly visited Navalny while he was at the Berlin hospital.
Addressing the claims, speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament Vyacheslav Volodin slammed Navalny as “an indecent man”, stressing that Russian pilots and medics did everything possible to save his life, and then fulfil his family's request for transfer immediately after ensuring he would be safe.
Previously, German authorities formally transferred data related to Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny's alleged poisoning to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), claiming that Moscow has to explain the incident.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Moscow has taken a “transparent position” on the Navalny case from the very beginning, allowing for him to be transferred to Germany for treatment at the request of…
