Russia denies FSB role in Navalny poisoning

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday denied current media investigations that alleged the nation’s Federal Security Service (FSB) had adopted and poisoned opposition chief Alexei Navalny.

“All this news is funny to read. But the manner in which this news is presented says only one thing: that our Western partners lack any ethical standards,” Mr. Lavrov mentioned.

Several European labs in September concluded that Navalny, 44, was poisoned after he fell ailing on a flight from Siberia to Moscow in August earlier than being transported by medical plane to Berlin.

A joint investigation printed earlier this week by a number of media retailers claimed FSB chemical weapons specialists had adopted Mr. Navalny for years, together with on the day he was poisoned.

The investigative web site Bellingcat along with CNN, Russian web site The Insider and Germany’s Der Spiegel on Monday printed names and pictures of the alleged males who tailed Mr. Navalny.

Their investigation mentioned the boys are specialists in nerve brokers and toxins, together with the Soviet-designed poison Novichok, which European international locations mentioned was used in opposition to Mr. Navalny, Russia’s most distinguished Kremlin critic.

During a go to to the Croatian capital Zagreb, Mr. Lavrov mentioned the media reviews show Western international locations’ “lack of any skills for normal diplomatic work and an unwillingness to comply with international legal norms when it comes to establishing facts”.

The joint report doesn’t set up any direct contact between Mr. Navalny and the named brokers and Russia has flatly denied any role in the Kremlin critic’s sickness.

The European Union has imposed entry bans and checking account freezes on six folks suspected of being accountable, together with FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov.

The 44-year-old opposition chief has mentioned he’ll return to Russia after making a full restoration in Germany.