The unfounded accusations against Russia related to the case of Alexei Navalny are inadmissible, Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin said at the British Foreign Office, where he was summoned earlier this day.
Kelin said that Moscow is interested in establishing the facts surrounding the Navalny case, while also reaffirming Russia’s commitment to the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab earlier announced that Russia’s ambassador to the UK had been summoned to the Foreign Office amid "deep concern over Alexei Navalny's poisoning". Raab also said he was relieved to hear the news about the improvement of Navalny's health, which, he hopes, will continue to get better.
The German clinic Charite, where Navalny was transported to from Russia, said earlier in the day that the 44-year-old Kremlin critic had been removed from artificial coma and was responding to verbal stimuli.
German doctors, who previously found traces of a cholinesterase inhibitor-type substance in his samples, said they had discovered the presence of Novichok-type chemicals in his body.
Moscow underlined that the Russian clinic, where Navalny was initially taken, had found no traces of any chemicals in his system and diagnosed him with a metabolic imbalance and low sugar level.
Navalny fell ill on board a plane travelling from the Siberian city of Tomsk to Moscow in late August. His team immediately suspected that he had been poisoned. Navalny is a well-known critic of the Russian government who has filmed several documentaries exposing alleged corruption of some Russian politicians.