Alexei Navalny was released from Berlin hospital last week after 32 days of treatment.
Washington:
Leaders of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday asked President Donald Trump to consider whether the Russian government had poisoned Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny with a chemical nerve agent, which would subject Moscow to sanctions.
“We are very concerned about reports that Russian anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny was poisoned in August 2020, by a chemical nerve agent of the Novichok family,” said the Republican chairman of the committee, Senator Jim Risch, and its Democratic rank member, Senator Bob Menendez, wrote in a letter to Trump.
The request – which followed a similar request from leaders of the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee on September 8 – added to growing international support for a response to the Navalny poisoning. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday that her country would discuss a response with its European partners.
The Kremlin critic was released from Charité hospital in Berlin last week after 32 days of treatment after falling ill on a Russian domestic flight. Germany says he was poisoned with a Soviet-type nerve agent Novichok. Moscow said it had seen no evidence that Navalny had been poisoned.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Risch and Menendez’s letter. Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Cherith Norman-Chalet told the UN Security Council earlier this month that she would work with her allies to hold those responsible for the Navalny poisoning to account.
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