The German government announced that it had reached what it described as definitive evidence of the presence of traces of chemical nerve gas from the "Novichok" group in the body of Russian opposition Alexei Navalny, who is currently receiving treatment in a hospital in Berlin.
A government spokesman said that tests carried out in a private laboratory of the German army had proven this, and that Chancellor Angela Merkel had been informed of the results of the analyzes.
The spokesman considered it a shocking event that Navalny turned into a victim of a chemical nerve gas attack in Russia, and called again the Russian authorities to conduct an investigation into the incident.
For her part, the German Chancellor considered that only Russia "can and should" answer the "questions" posed about Navalny's poisoning.
Merkel told the press that the Russian dissident who was hospitalized in Berlin was a "victim of a crime" aimed at "silencing him."
Russian dissident Alexei Navalny (Reuters)
She added that "serious questions are being raised now and only the Russian government can answer them and it should" do so.
Novichok is a group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet army in the 1970s and 1980s.
Perfect cooperation
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Berlin had informed Moscow of what the German side had reached regarding the poisoning of Navalny, saying that Russia was ready for "full cooperation" with Germany.
The White House has expressed "grave concern" at Germany's assertion that Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent.
"The poisoning of Alexei Navalny is completely reprehensible," National Security Council spokesman John Oliot wrote in a tweet.
"We will work with allies and the international community to hold accountable people responsible in Russia, wherever the evidence leads, and cut off funding for their malicious activities," he added.
"I would like to denounce in the strongest terms the shocking and irresponsible use of such a substance," French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement.
He said that there are "urgent questions .. it is the responsibility of the Russian authorities to answer them," adding that "France is in close contact with the German authorities as well as with our partners to coordinate the due response."