Paris (AFP)

After Germany, the United States, the EU and the G7, Emmanuel Macron on Monday called Vladimir Putin to account for the fate of Alexey Navalny, during a telephone interview in which he denounced an "attempt to assassination "of the Russian opponent.

The French president asked him that "all the light be shed, without delay", on the "assassination attempt" of the Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny, which he described as "poisoning", announced the Elysee .

"A clarification is necessary on the part of Russia within the framework of a credible and transparent investigation", said the head of state, specifying that "France shares, on the basis of its own analyzes, the conclusions of several of its European partners on the facts of poisoning using a Novichok nerve agent ".

So far, France has expressed itself on this affair within the framework of the G7 and the EU at the level of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Placed in August in intensive care in a Siberian hospital after having fainted in a plane, Alexeï Navalny, number one opponent to the Kremlin, was transferred to Germany.

German doctors say they have found traces of poisoning with a Novichok-type nerve agent, a substance designed in Soviet times for military purposes.

Western criticism has multiplied last week.

The EU has raised possible sanctions and Angela Merkel has indicated that Germany does not rule out the freezing of the project of its flagship gas pipeline with Russia, Nord Stream 2, which is to supply Europe with Russian gas via the sea. Baltic.

Tuesday, the G7 countries, including France, also urged Moscow to bring "urgently" to justice the perpetrators of "confirmed poisoning" of Mr. Navalny, denouncing as "unacceptable" any use of chemical weapons.

And US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has estimated that the poisoning of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny was probably orchestrated by Russian “senior officials”.

The Kremlin counterattacked saying that "any attempt to associate Russia in any way with what has happened is unacceptable."

Berlin announced on Monday that French and Swedish laboratories confirmed that the opponent was the victim of a Novichok-type nerve agent.

This affair is a blow to the Franco-Russian dialogue, which Emmanuel Macron had tried to revive by reaching out to Vladimir Putin, causing trouble among some of his European allies.

© 2020 AFP