Europe’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell on Monday called on Russian authorities to conduct an “independent” and “transparent” investigation on the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Through a Twitter post, Borrell said that “Russian people, as well as the international community, are demanding the facts,” adding that “those responsible must be held to account.”
It is imperative that Russian authorities initiate an independent and transparent investigation on the poisoning of @navalny. Russian people, as well as the international community, are demanding the facts. Those responsible must be held to account https://t.co/cDmoqxMaFF
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) August 24, 2020
Borrell’s call came after the preliminary test results from the Charite – Universitätsmedizin hospital in Berlin indicated that Navalny was poisoned.
On Thursday, Navalny was rushed to a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk, after drinking a cup of tea that his spokeswoman said she believed was laced with poison. Although a German air ambulance landed in the city the following day to transfer Navalny to Germany for treatment, the hospital’s head doctor said his “too unstable” condition could not allow for the transfer.
Navalny’s team said authorities wanted to win time so that any trace of poison would disappear. Eventually, the Russian politician left early on Saturday for Germany, where doctors in Berlin Charite hospital said that “clinical evidence suggests an intoxication through a substance belonging to the group of cholinesterase inhibitors”.
His spokesperson said that although Navalny will survive the poison attack, he will be incapacitated for months as a politician.
