European laboratories confirm: Navalny poisoned with nerve agent 'Novichok'

(Patria) – Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent discovered on an empty water bottle in the hotel room where he was staying in the Siberian city of Tomsk, his team announced on Thursday.

This has been confirmed by laboratories in Germany, France, and Sweden, which determined it to be the nerve agent 'Novichok'.

Russia denies these allegations and claims they are not based on evidence.

Germany, France, Great Britain, as well as many other countries, are demanding an explanation from Russia regarding the Navalny case, and new sanctions against official Moscow are also being mentioned.

Russia has conducted preliminary investigations but claims that additional medical analysis is needed to open a formal investigation.

At the same time, Germany, which claims to have proof that Navalny was poisoned with the chemical agent Novichok on August 20, has requested assistance from the global chemical agency OPCW in investigating the alleged poisoning.

Novichok, a chemical agent from the Soviet era, was used in 2018 to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury. At that time, OPCW tests confirmed it to be the highly toxic substance Novichok.

The OPCW was established in 1997 as a technical body for the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention. This global organization also plays a significant role in monitoring the use of banned chemical weapons in the Syrian war.