The so-called investigation of blogger Alexei Navalny about his alleged poisoning is a provocation, prepared with the technical and organizational support of foreign special services, the FSB’s Public Relations Center said on December 21.
As reported by TASS, the service noted that the planned provocation was aimed at discrediting the FSB of Russia, as well as employees of the federal security service.
In addition, the recording of a telephone conversation with an FSB officer allegedly involved in the “poisoning” of Navalny, published earlier on Monday, is a fake, the department added.
At the same time, the service intends to conduct a check on the fact of the published information. It is noted that, based on its results, a procedural assessment will be given.
On December 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a large press conference, commented on the situation with Alexei Navalny, calling it the legalization of the American special services and a trick in the political struggle.
A few days earlier, the newspaper The Sunday Times, citing anonymous sources, reported that they tried to poison Navalny a second time when he was in an artificial coma in Omsk. The article claims that this information was provided to the British intelligence services by their colleagues from Germany.
Navalny felt bad on August 20 when he flew from Tomsk to Moscow. The plane urgently landed in Omsk, the blogger was taken to the emergency hospital No. 1, and later the Russian’s family transported him to the Charite clinic in Berlin. The discovery of signs of intoxication with a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors in Navalny was reported already upon his arrival in Germany. Omsk doctors during the examination did not find intoxication with this substance. On September 23, the Russian was discharged from a German hospital.
In mid-October, the European Union imposed sanctions against Russian officials without any evidence and grounds due to the incident with the blogger. The restrictions include a ban on entering the EU, freezing assets and conducting financial transactions.
At the end of November it became known that only 56 of the 193 OPCW member countries believe that Navalny suffered from a nerve agent from the Novichok group.