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Alexej Navalny: Probably the most important Russian opposition activist was allegedly poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok on August 20 this year
Photo:
Pavel Golovkin / dpa
More than three months ago, the Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny was poisoned and almost died from the consequences - it is now known who the men are who were supposed to kill him.
At least eight agents from the Russian domestic secret service FSB were involved in the attack.
This was the result of research by SPIEGEL, the research platform Bellingcat and other partners.
The failed perpetrators had probably followed him for years.
The FDP politician Alexander Graf Lambsdorff described the revelations in the Navalny case to SPIEGEL as a “bang,” which proves “that Russia is not only breaking international law, but also its own constitution.” That would raise the “serious questions in the Navalny case the Kremlin new urgency «, so the Bundestag member.
“The international community must not stand by and watch as Putin continues his chemical weapons program, contrary to international treaties, and poisons political opponents.
Moscow must now finally agree to an independent investigation by the OPCW and clear the table.
In Putin's Moscow it is impossible to work freely in the opposition without endangering one's life.
That is why the federal government must offer political asylum to democratic activists in Russia and promote visa exemption for young Russians in the EU. "
The foreign policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Nils Schmid, told SPIEGEL: “These revelations are terrifying, but not surprising.
They expose the weakness of a regime that wants to cover up the lack of future prospects for its own country through repression. "
"Questions that only the Russian government can answer"
Navalny was allegedly poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok on August 20 this year.
After a stay in a Russian clinic, he was transferred to the Berlin Charité for further treatment.
Shortly after the attack, experts and politicians attributed the crime to the Russian state because only it had relevant quantities of the rare poison.
"There are now very serious questions that only the Russian government can and must answer," said Chancellor Angela Merkel shortly after she enabled Navalny's transport to Germany.
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