Alexei Navalny: Kremlin says CIA ‘working with’ poisoned Putin critic
Navalny, who is recovering in Germany, accuses Putin of being behind poisoning
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Your support makes all the difference.The Kremlin has dismissed Alexei Navalny’s accusations Vladimir Putin was responsible for his apparent poisoning — by claiming he is under the influence of the CIA.
“I’ll put it this way, the patient is not working with western security services, but western security serivces are working with him,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Thursday.
“We have information that American intelligence services have been working with him during these days. It would not be the first time this has happened.”
Mr Navalny, a prominent Kremlin critic, fell ill on 20 August on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow. German authorities have since determined he was poisoned by a nerve agent from the Novichok family of compounds first developed in Soviet Russia.
The quick actions of the crew, who performed an emergency landing, and of first responders, who administered an antidote, appeared to have saved his life.
In an interview with Der Spiegel, fragments of which were published on Thursday, Mr Navalny said he believed the Russian president stood behind the attempt on his life: “Putin is behind the crime. I have no other versions of the crime. I am not saying this to flatter myself, but on the basis of facts.”
Mr Peskov said the Kremlin considered the comments to be “without foundation, unacceptable and offensive.”
“This rhetoric is offensive and designed to put the patient at the same level as the head of state,” the spokesman said. “He wants to suggest the political battle is with him. But the president’s real competitors are elsewhere. They are not quasi- or marginal opponents.”
Russia has yet to open an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Mr Navalny’s poisoning. Officials maintain they cannot begin a probe without access to results of the German Novichok tests. That said, their various explanations for the opposition politician’s illness have ranged from the unlikely to the ludicrous.
According to Le Monde, Mr Putin even suggested to French president Emmanuelle Macron that his nemesis had poisoned himself.
In his first interview since being discharged from hospital, Mr Navalny declared he intends to return to Russia. Not returning would be a “gift” to Putin, he said. “My task now is to remain the guy who is not afraid. And I am not afraid!”
Spokesman Peskov said the opposition politician was free to return home whenever he pleased.
“There is no heroism in this. We save lives in Russia. The life of this patient was saved in this country too.”
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