I demand that my clothes be carefully packed in a plastic bag and returned to me: Alexei Navalny
Moscow:
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Monday that Western labs found traces of a Novichok nerve agent in and on his body and demanded that Moscow return his clothes.
Navalny, who is recovering at the Berlin charity clinic, fell seriously ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow on August 20. He spent two days in hospital in Russia before being flown to Germany.
“Two independent laboratories in France and Sweden and the specialized laboratory of the Bundeswehr have confirmed the presence of Novichok in and on my body,” he said in his first blog post since coming out of the coma, referring to a German military laboratory.
He noted that Russia still had not opened an investigation and that Russian talk shows had suggested that Western intelligence officials or its own allies carried out the attack.
“I wasn’t expecting anything else,” he wrote.
He also demanded that Russian authorities return his clothes which had been removed before it was flown to Germany – “totally naked” – saying it was important evidence.
“Considering the fact that Novichok was found on my body and poisoning from physical contact is very likely, my clothes are very important evidence,” he wrote.
“I demand that my clothes be carefully packed in a plastic bag and returned to me.”
‘Love heals’
In a poignant Instagram post, he posted a photo with his 20-year-old wife, Yulia, saying he remembered little about his illness but that it had helped his recovery.
“Now I definitely know from experience: love heals and brings you back to life,” he said.
“Yulia, you saved me and you dropped it in the neurobiology textbooks.”
He said she played him music, sang him songs and laughed.
The opposition figure said last weekend that he could walk with a “tremor” and that in his early days he needed therapy to help him regain his speech.
Supporters of Navalny and European leaders have said that poisoning using Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent, indicates a state-sanctioned attack.
Siberian Transport Police, which conducted a basic examination of Navalny’s movements, said on Monday they were continuing a preliminary investigation and had interviewed around 200 people.
Navalny Anti-Corruption Foundation chief Ivan Zhdanov said employees would no longer collaborate with police in the Siberian city of Tomsk, accusing authorities of trying to cover up a crime.
“We are not going to participate in this,” he said.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
