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OPCW's Assistance to Berlin on Navalny Constitutes Violation, Russian Foreign Ministry Says

© REUTERS / Michele TantussiCharite Mitte Hospital Complex
Charite Mitte Hospital Complex - Sputnik International
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Having disclosed the fact of technical assistance to Berlin on the situation with blogger Alexey Navalny, the technical secretariat of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) did not receive direct consent of Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

According to the ministry, this constitutes a violation.

"Violations in this situation were also committed by the OPCW Technical Secretariat, which disclosed the fact of providing technical assistance without our direct consent. Recall, in accordance with the statements of Berlin, we are talking about events that took place not in Germany, but in Russia", the ministry said.

Such consent is mandatory, which is enshrined in paragraph 2 c) ii) of the Appendix on confidentiality to the CWC, it stressed.

"Taking into account the repeatedly demonstrated political bias and bias of the technical secretariat's leadership, we have no doubt that the forthcoming report on the provision of 'technical assistance' at the request of Germany will record the presence of traces of the so-called 'Novichok' in Navalny's biological samples, taken by the technical secretariat during a secret operation, carefully hidden from us by all its participants", the ministry said.

Earlier in the day, the ministry recalled that the Russian Prosecutor General's Office had previously addressed three requests to the German authorities "for legal assistance to the Russian side in determining the presence of signs of a possible crime". It said that Russia is offered "again and again" to ask for clarification in the OPCW, the leadership of which, in turn, "refers us on the same occasion to the government of Germany".

Navalny fell ill while on an internal flight to Moscow in late August, after which he was transported to Germany for further treatment. Russian doctors, who treated him in the home city of Omsk, said that no traces of a poisonous substance were discovered during tests.

Navalny was discharged from the German hospital on 23 September and is expected to make a full recovery.

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