Navalny's poisoning with Novichok was confirmed by laboratories in France and Sweden

The poisoning of Alexei Navalny with poison from the Novichok group was confirmed by independent laboratories in France and Sweden, said . the German government

The German government announced the verdict of independent laboratories in France and Sweden in a special statement .

On September 2, 2020, the German federal government announced that, at the request of the Charite clinic, a specialized laboratory of the Bundeswehr conducted a toxicological analysis of samples taken from Alexei Navalny. The analysis definitely indicated the presence of a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group, the government said in a statement.

This is a serious violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). Therefore, the federal government turned to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) with a request to take part in the analysis of the materials of the Navalny case. This was done in accordance with Article VIII 38 (e) of the CWC, which gives all parties to the convention the right to receive technical support from the OPCW.

In this regard, the OPCW received samples taken from Mr. Navalny and took the necessary steps to have certified laboratories analyze them.

The federal government has also asked its European partners, including France and Sweden, for an independent analysis of samples taken from Mr Navalny. The results of this study are already available and confirm the conclusions made by Germany.

Thus, three laboratories have independently confirmed that the cause of the poisoning of Alexei Navalny was a nerve agent from the Novichok group.

The German government also announced that it "again calls on Russia to explain what happened." "We are in close contact with European partners in discussing the next steps," the statement said.

• On September 9, the German publication Zeit reported that Navalny had been poisoned with a new, more dangerous version of the Novichok poison, which could only be available to Russian special services.
• Prior to this, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, in an interview with Bild am Sonntag , said that the refusal of the Russian authorities to investigate the poisoning of Alexei Navalny would be regarded as further evidence of their involvement.
• The Russian authorities have said that Germany has not yet provided them with evidence of Navalny's poisoning and may "play a double game."

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