BERLIN (AP) — The German government says tests provided “proof without doubt” that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with the same kind of Soviet-era nerve agent that British authorities identified in the 2018 attack on a former Russian spy.
Navalny is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critics. He fell into a coma on a flight back to Moscow from Siberia on Aug 20.
Doctors at Berlin’s Charite hospital last week said there were indications Navalny had been poisoned.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said Wednesday that a German military laboratory found proof of “a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group.”
In a statement, the German government urged Russia to explain itself in regards to the alleged poisoning.
The Kremlin says it hasn’t been informed yet of Germany's nerve agent allegation.