Russian opponent Alexei Navalny accused President Vladimir Putin of being "behind" his poisoning, in his first interview published since he left the German hospital where he was treated.
"I affirm that Putin is behind this act, I do not see any other explanation," he told the German weekly Der Spiegel, which published, Thursday, October 1, excerpts from the interview on its website.
"My duty now is to remain as I am: someone who is not afraid. And I am not afraid!", Also affirms the main opponent of the Kremlin.
"I will not give Putin the gift of not returning to Russia," he added.
A tireless anti-corruption activist and fierce critic of the Kremlin, Alexei Navalny, 44, fell seriously ill on August 20 on a plane in Siberia while campaigning for the regional elections.
Navalny "free" to return to Russia according to Moscow
Three European laboratories have concluded that it was poisoned with a Novichok-type nerve agent, designed for military use in Soviet times, and Western capitals have therefore called on Russia to explain and investigate.
Moscow rejects all accusations.
Alexeï Navalny was released a week ago from the Berlin Charité hospital, where he was treated for a month.
He is now continuing his convalescence in Germany which, according to his spokesperson, will take "a long time".
The Kremlin claimed that Alexey Navalny was "free" to return to Russia.
But, at the same time, Russian bailiffs froze accounts and his share of his Moscow apartment when he was in a coma after his suspected poisoning at the end of August.According to the spokesperson for the opponent, these new court decisions are linked to a dispute between a sulphurous businessman, reputed to be close to the Kremlin, Evgueni Prigojine, to Alexeï Navalny and one of his allies, Lioubov Sobol.
With AFP
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