Russian opposition activists claimed to have been attacked on Tuesday (September 8th) by an unknown man who threw a bottle with a "chemical component" into their offices in Siberia.

Two people were transferred to hospital for examinations.

According to Olga Gousseva, an activist of the Anti-Corruption Fund (FBK) of the opponent Alexeï Navalny, the attack occurred on the premises of the "Novosibirsk 2020" coalition, in the Siberian city of the same name.

This political formation is campaigning against the ruling party and the Communists for the regional elections of September 13.

"The headquarters of the Novosibirsk 2020 Coalition has just been attacked: an unknown man rushed into the office and smashed a bottle filled with an unknown chemical component. There was a conference in the office, with around 50 people." , she wrote on Twitter, describing a "very pungent and unbearable smell".

>> To read: Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny released from artificial coma

The director of the FBK, Ivan Zhdanov, for his part, clarified on Twitter that two people had been taken to hospital for examinations.

He released CCTV footage showing a man wearing a hooded coat and surgical mask on his face entering the premises before throwing a glass bottle on the ground and fleeing.

According to the opposition media MBKh, the police arrived at the scene determined that the substance in question was an antiseptic product used in veterinary medicine, which gave off a "strong unpleasant odor".

UN calls for investigation

This attack comes two weeks after the poisoning in August of the main Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny by an innervating agent of the "Novichok" type, according to German doctors, who are treating him in Berlin.

While he was able to come out of the artificial coma in which he had been plunged for three weeks on Monday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, urged Russia on Tuesday to lead or cooperate fully with independent investigation.

"The number of cases of poisoning or other forms of targeted murder of Russian citizens or ex-citizens, in Russia or elsewhere, over the past two decades is deeply worrying," said Michelle Bachelet.

Appropriate legal procedures have not been carried out in previous incidents, which has resulted in "almost total impunity" in Russia, Michelle Bachelet spokesman Rupert Colville also said in a statement. UN press briefing in Geneva.

With AFP and Reuters

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