Protester for Alexei Navalny -

Kommersant / SIPA

The Kremlin denounced this Monday the "absurd" attempts to accuse Russia of the poisoning of the opponent Alexeï Navalny, victim of a Novichok-type nerve agent according to Berlin who fixed an ultimatum of a few days in Moscow to receive explinations.

This statement comes as calls to sanction Russia multiply in the West, consequences for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project not being excluded if Moscow does not provide the expected answers on the poisoning.

The German I accuse

"Any attempt to associate Russia in any way with what happened (with Alexeï Navalny, editor's note) is unacceptable to us," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

These attempts are "absurd", he assured.

According to the German government, Alexei Navalny was "unequivocally" poisoned in Russia during an election tour by a Novichok-type nerve agent, a substance designed in Soviet times for military purposes.

Berlin and other Western countries point the finger at Russian authorities and urge them to provide an explanation.

Berlin Ultimatum

British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab found it "very difficult" to think of another "plausible" explanation than that of "an emanation of the Russian state".

The standoff hardened on Sunday, with Germany setting an ultimatum of a few days in Moscow to "clarify what happened".

Alexei Navalny, known for his anti-corruption investigations targeting the Russian political elite, was ill on August 20 and was urgently hospitalized in Omsk in Siberia, before being evacuated to Berlin after a standoff between his entourage and the Russian doctors.

He is currently released from an artificial coma on Monday at the Berlin Charité hospital.

The nerve agent Novichok had already been used against the former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in 2018 in England.

According to British authorities, the GRU, Russian military intelligence, was the main suspect.

This case had already led to sanctions against Russia, which had denied any involvement.

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