Germany says it will probe Navalny case, hand results to Russia, if he agrees

Germany says it will investigate the alleged poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexi Navalny, and hand the results to Moscow, on the condition of his consent, in the wake of a request by Russia to question him in Berlin.

Germany has accused Russia of trying to poison Navalny.

Berlin had said earlier that it would not investigate the case because the incident happened in Russia.

The office of Germany’s public prosecutor said on Friday it had been instructed by the government “to provide legal assistance over the Russian request for legal assistance and to obtain information on the state of health of A. Navalny — subject to his consent.”

Navalny, 44, who had reportedly had a cup of tea at the airport prior to a flight from the Siberian city of Tomsk to the Russian capital last month, collapsed on the flight and his plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Omsk due to a sudden deterioration in his health.

Russia: Germany stalling Navalny probe ‘on purpose'

Moscow says Germany has failed to provide Russian prosecutors with Alexi Navalny’s medical records.

Navalny’s team claimed that the drink had been poisoned, accusing Moscow of poisoning the opposition figure and ordering a ban on transporting him in “an attempt on his life.” But he was soon airlifted to Germany for treatment.

German doctors at Berlin’s Charite Hospital, where Navalny was admitted to, said clinical findings indicated he had been poisoned with a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors. They said the specific substance was unknown.

Russia has said its doctors who treated Navalny initially were much more transparent than the German doctors treating him now.

Germany has also called on the Kremlin to open a criminal investigation into the case.

Russia has rejected the request, calling the allegations as “groundless.”

Russia prepares additional request to Germany on Navalny case

Moscow has prepared an additional request to demand legal assistance from Germany in the case of Alexei Navalny, amid groundless accusations about Russia

After reports that Navalny had emerged from a coma, Russia requested to send its investigators to ask him "clarifying and additional questions," according to the transport department of Russia’s Interior Ministry in Siberia.

It said that Russia wanted its investigators to be present as "German colleagues carry out investigative activities with Navalny, medics and experts" and ask "clarifying and additional questions," the ministry said in a statement on Friday.

“This request will include an application for the possible presence of Russian internal affairs investigators… and a Russian specialist.”

Berlin said on Friday that it had not received such a request.

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was discontented with foreign pressure over the Navalny case.

“Of course, we do not like it when other countries dictate to us what legal procedures we have at what point and on what basis to start them,” Peskov said.

“We cannot call these checks and inquiries a criminal case on the basis of analysis by a German laboratory ... legally, it is not possible.”

The allegation is the latest in a series of accusations against Moscow. In 2018, the UK accused Russia of having poisoned Sergei Skripal, a former double spy, and his daughter in Salisbury in southern England. Russia denied any involvement in that incident.

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