The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Released from the hospital, Alexeï Navalny accuses Putin of having had him poisoned

2020-10-01T14:14:46.877Z


In an interview with Spiegel, the anti-corruption activist confirms that he intends to return to Russia after his convalescence.


The duel between Alexeï Navalny and Vladimir Putin took a fierce turn Thursday with the publication, in the weekly

Spiegel

, of the first interview of the opponent in the Kremlin since his release from the Berlin Charité hospital.

The anti-corruption lawyer accused the Russian president of having ordered his poisoning attempt and implicitly called on Western leaders to measure the

“level of madness”

reached by the head of state.

"Putin is behind the crime, and I have no other versions of the course of events"

, explains Alexeï Navalny, who fell into a coma on August 20 after an electoral trip, in Omsk, Siberia.

The toxic agent used was Novichok, concluded four Western laboratories including a French laboratory.

"The order to kill Navalny was limited to the highest level ... and that to use or produce Novichok, can only come from three men, the head of the FSB

[Alexandre Bortnikov, Editor's note]

, the head of the service of foreign intelligence, the SVR

[Alexeï Narychkine]

or the head of the GRU

[military intelligence, Igor Kostioukov, editor's note]

.

The latter

“cannot take such a decision without an instruction from Putin.

They are subordinate to him, ”he

adds.

Targeted sanctions

The Kremlin spokesman deemed

"inadmissible and unfounded"

the accusations made by the anti-corruption activist, denying him the status of opponent and endeavoring never to pronounce his name, calling him preferably

"the patient of Berlin ”

.

For his part, the chairman of the State Duma and former head of the presidential administration, Vyacheslav Voldyne, called Navalny a

"scoundrel"

.

"He has no shame, Putin saved his life"

, claims this faithful.

The dispute concerns in particular the conditions which allowed the person concerned to leave the hospital in Omsk and to be transferred to Germany on 23 August.

Navalny accuses the Russian doctors of having, under pressure from the FSB, lied about his state of health and attributes the favor of his transfer to Angela Merkel alone.

"Something has changed in the head of Putin"

, so that it comes from there to order this kind of assassinations, continues Navalny in the columns of

Spiegel

.

“He knows everything about me.

I live under total observation… It is often said that he is only interested in geopolitics and that he does not care about anything else.

This is not true.

He saw what happened in Khabarovsk, where people have taken to the streets for more than 80 days

[to protest the arrest of their former mayor, who is charged with murder, Editor's note]

.

The Kremlin still does not know what to do with it but realizes that it must take extreme measures to avoid a "Belarusian scenario".

The system is struggling to survive, ”he

says.

Alexeï Navalny calls for the establishment of targeted sanctions against personalities of the regime.

Germany, which holds the presidency of the European Union this semester, is awaiting the forthcoming conclusions of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons - an organization of which Russia is a member - to start a debate on possible sanctions within the EU.

“Putin is concerned with power and personal enrichment, and the two are inextricably linked.

How many billions can he give to his daughters, to his friends?

It would be prejudicial to them if Europe finally showed them the borders, confiscated their property and no longer allowed them to enter the country.

Despite all the sanctions imposed so far, these people still feel very much at home in the West.

As long as the Russian elite can use European infrastructure, nothing will change, ”

said the opponent.

I am not afraid !

And I won't give Putin the gift of not going back to Russia.

Alexei Navalny

By granting such a resounding interview to the German press and raising the issue of European sanctions, Alexeï Navalny flanks the traditional criticisms of the Kremlin, according to which the latter is being manipulated by the West.

This rhetoric meets with a certain echo in Russia.

Russian diplomacy thus tries to point the finger at Berlin, and denounces the

“public rants”

propagated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Heiko Maas.

Emmanuel Macron has also found himself in the Kremlin's sights since his trip to Lithuania, where he met the main opponent of the allied regime of Alexander Lukashenko, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.

"Given the behavior of Germany and its allies in the EU and NATO, it is impossible to have to do with the West until it stops using methods of provocation and falsification, that he begins to behave in an honest and responsible manner, ”

Russian diplomacy said in a statement released Wednesday evening, on the occasion of the UN Annual Conference.

“Western intelligence agencies are working with

[Navalny, editor's note]

; I can even say specifically that CIA instructors are working with him at the moment

,

Dimitri Peskov accused. Until now, the activist and his team have always kept a distance from Western chancelleries. However, the latter does not intend to go into exile in Germany and has confirmed his intention to return to Russia once his convalescence is over.

“Not coming back would mean Putin has achieved his goal. And my task now is to remain the type who is not afraid. And I am not afraid! And I will not give Putin the gift of not returning to Russia. ”

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2020-10-01

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-27T16:45:54.081Z
News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.