The poisoning of the Russian opposition figure, Navalny ... a moderating position of Trump and Moscow that challenges the West's threat of sanctions

US President Donald Trump adopted a less hawkish stance and "softened" on poisoning Russian dissident Alexei Navalny with nerve gas, while Russia defied the threat of Western countries to impose sanctions on them.

During a press conference in Washington yesterday, Trump said that he had not yet seen the evidence announced by Germany regarding the poisoning of Navalny, 44, who was being treated in a Berlin hospital after being evacuated on the 22nd of last month by plane from the city of Omsk in Siberia.

He added that he believed that what happened to Navalny was terrible and tragic, noting that he would be very angry if the poisoning of the Russian opposition was confirmed.

Although he said that he would be angry if the poisoning process was confirmed, and promised that his country would study this file very seriously, on the other hand, he called for focusing on China and not Russia.

The US President’s position seemed less strong than the position expressed yesterday by the US State Department, after Germany’s announcement on Wednesday that it had conclusive evidence that Navalny had been poisoned with the nerve gas, "Novichok" produced by Russia.

Stephen Begon, Assistant Secretary of State, told Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov that Moscow's use of a chemical weapon was a clear violation of its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Treaty.

An international response

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) yesterday strongly and unanimously condemned the attack on the Russian opposition with the nerve gas Novichok.

The alliance said at the conclusion of a meeting during which Germany presented evidence of Navalny's poisoning, that the attack is a clear violation of international law and requires an international response, calling on Russia to be fully transparent, and demanding that it bring those responsible to justice.

While Germany refused to discuss the Navalny case in a bilateral framework with Moscow and considered it a case of the international community, France and Germany again demanded Russia for explanations regarding the poisoning of Navalny, and for the prosecution of those involved in the attack.

Defiance

and

In exchange for Western assurances that Alexei Navalny was poisoned, Russia continued to deny even though Russian security circles did not rule out the hypothesis of poisoning with Novichok gas.

Yesterday, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Russia was behind what happened to Navalny, who is one of the fiercest opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Piskun said the hypothesis had been considered from the start, but the Russian doctors had not proven it.

For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow deals with Western statements about Navalny with a kind of skepticism, adding that there is nothing Moscow has to hide.

Lavrov accused the West of presenting "arrogant" demands, and said that the German Ministry of Justice had not yet shared any information with the Russian prosecutors, adding that Moscow would respond when it received an answer.

In recent days, pro-Kremlin personalities have floated many surprising theories, including the possibility that Navalny was either poisoned by the Germans or poisoned himself.

In the context, the Russian expert in toxicology Alexander Sabaev considered yesterday that the health of Navalny - who is currently in an artificial coma in a German hospital - may have deteriorated due to his diet, psychological pressure, stress or diet.

Two years ago, a crisis erupted between the West and Russia after the former Russian double agent Sergey Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with Novichok gas in Britain, at which time Moscow also denied its involvement in the attack.