France and Sweden labs confirm Navalny poisoned with Novichok

Specialist labs in France and Sweden have confirmed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok, the German government said Monday.

A German military laboratory previously confirmed the substance in his samples.

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert also said that the Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is taking steps to have samples from Navalny tested at its reference laboratories.

"Independently of the ongoing examinations by the OPCW, three laboratories have now confirmed independently of one another the proof of a nerve agent of the Novichok group as the cause of Mr. Navalny's poisoning," Seibert said in a statement.

He said Germany had asked France and Sweden for an "independent review" of the German findings. German officials said labs in both countries, as well as the OPCW, took their own new samples.

Navalny, the most prominent opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was flown to Germany two days after falling ill on Aug. 20 on a domestic flight in Russia and is being treated at Berlin's Charite hospital. Berlin has demanded that Russia investigate the case.

Seibert on Monday renewed Germany's demand that "Russia explain itself" on the matter. He added that "we are in close consultation with our European partners on further steps." The Kremlin has bristled at calls from Chancellor Angela Merkel and other world leaders for Russia to answer questions in the case, denying any official involvement and accusing the West of trying to smear Moscow.

Russian authorities have prodded Germany to share the evidence that led it to conclude "without doubt" that Navalny was poisoned with a military nerve agent from the Novichok group, the same class of Soviet-era agent that British authorities said was used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, in 2018. Berlin has rejected suggestions from Moscow that it is dragging its heels.

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