Russia says Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny could have been poisoned in Germany

The 44-year-old was put into a medically induced coma after he was poisoned with the Novichok nerve agent in August.

In this Saturday, July 20, 2019 file photo, Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny gestures while speaking to a crowd during a political protest in Moscow Source: AP

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who fell ill on a flight in Siberia on 20 August and was airlifted to Berlin for treatment, could have been poisoned in Germany or on the plane there.

Blood samples taken from Mr Navalny, 44, confirmed the presence of a Novichok nerve agent, the global Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has said.

The poisoning has worsened relations between Russia and the West, which had introduced sanctions on top Russian officials close to President Vladimir Putin.

“We have all grounds to believe that everything, which had happened to him (Mr Navalny) from the point of view of warfare agent’s entering into his body, could have happened in Germany or on the plane where he was loaded and sent to the Charite clinic,” Mr Lavrov told an online new conference.

He did not specify the evidence.

Mr Navalny received treatment in the Charite hospital in Berlin for 32 days before being discharged in September.

Last month, the European Union and Britain imposed sanctions on top Russian officials close to Mr Putin in response to the poisoning of Mr Navalny.

Mr Lavrov said on Thursday that Russia would soon announce the retaliatory measures it has taken against senior French and German officials in tit-for-tat sanctions related to the poisoning.

Russia has denied any involvement in the poisoning of Mr Navalny who is recovering in Germany.

Traces of Novichok were also found in the 2018 British case of the poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter.