Russia Faces European Action After Novichok Use Confirmed
Chemical-Weapons Body Confirms Novichok Found In Alexey Navalny Samples
(Bloomberg) -- Germany said European allies will weigh action against Russia -- including possible sanctions -- after an international chemical-weapons watchdog confirmed that a nerve agent from the banned Novichok group had been used in the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny.
“Any use of chemical weapons is a grave act and cannot go without consequences,” German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Tuesday. “Over the coming days, urgent discussions will take place in the executive council of the OPCW and among EU partners on the next steps to be taken.”
Experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirmed that blood and urine samples taken from Navalny contained traces of substances similar to the banned Novichok group. “These results constitute a matter of grave concern,” OPCW Director-General Fernando Arias said in a website statement.
The finding could lead European countries to impose sanctions on Russia for violating the treaty banning the use of such weapons, German officials have said.
“This confirms anew the irrefutable proof that Alexey Navalny was the victim of an attack using a chemical agent in the Novichok group,” Seibert said. “This nerve agent, which is not publicly known, is until now not on the OPCW’s official list.”
The Kremlin hasn’t received official confirmation from the OPCW yet, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Navalny, known for his anti-Kremlin activism, was hospitalized in August in Siberia and later sent to Berlin for treatment. German specialists found traces of Novichok, a category of nerve agents first developed by the Soviet Union, in samples taken from him.
Chancellor Angela Merkel called on the Russian government to conduct a full investigation, saying it appeared Navalny had been targeted for his political views. The case has led to a deep chill in relations with Moscow. Merkel hasn’t ruled out the possibility that sanctions might affect Nord Stream 2, a gas pipeline from Russia that’s been a key Kremlin priority.
Moscow says it has no evidence that Navalny was poisoned and officials have called the case a set-up by western security services, accusing the opposition leader of taking instructions from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Navalny has been released from the hospital and publicly blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the attack. The Kremlin called that charge “insulting.”
In 2018, the OPCW found that Novichok had been used in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a Russian former spy, and his daughter in Salisbury, U.K. Western governments blamed Russia for the attack and expelled scores of Moscow’s diplomats in retaliation. The U.S. later imposed sanctions on Russia over the case, as well.
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