Earlier in the day, the OPCW said that a substance similar to Novichok, but not included in the list of banned chemicals, was found in Navalny's body. The German government believes that the OPCW statement in the Navalny case confirms that he was poisoned with a Novichok-group substance.
"We drew attention to the quite predictable promptness with which the German side 'agreed' with the publication of the report on the results of Navalny's biomaterials research on the OPCW website, which was received literally the day before, apparently specifically for the beginning of the session of the OPCW Executive Council. Thus, the essentially fantasy story, initiated on Berlin's behalf by its Euro-Atlantic allies, together with the leadership of the OPCW technical secretariat, was continued according to a pre-planned conspiracy scenario," the ministry stated.
The ministry recalled that, following the military laboratories of Germany, France, and Sweden, there are now also two laboratories appointed by the OPCW technical secretariat, "which, apparently, are also related to the military-political structures of the Euro-Atlantic community," confirming the presence of cholinesterase inhibitor biomarkers in Navalny's biomaterials.
The latter are said to "have similar structural characteristics as the toxic chemicals" controlled under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), however, unlike those, they are not included in the list, the statement says.
"Russia intends to disseminate its vision of the situation with Germany's interaction with the OPCW Technical Secretariat during the current session of the Executive Council, providing CWC member states with the timeline of behind-the-scenes manipulations of the main characters of this performance," the ministry stated.
Numerous requests of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, addressed in accordance with the 1959 European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, to the authorities of Germany, France and Sweden have remained unanswered and are allegedly still being considered.
"We hope that the forthcoming joint work of Russian experts with OPCW experts will allow us to establish calm, depoliticized interaction and avoid further escalating the situation around this issue," the ministry concluded.
On 20 August, Navalny fell ill on a domestic flight inside of Russia. He was initially treated in the Siberian city of Omsk, where the plane made an emergency landing. Two days later, after doctors determined that he was fit for cross-border aerial transportation, the opposition politician was flown to the Berlin-based Charite hospital for treatment.
In a statement, the German government said that doctors found evidence of a poisonous nerve agent from the Novichok group in Navalny's body. Moscow disputed the claims, noting that Russian doctors found no toxic substances in Navalny while he was under treatment in Russia.
The opposition activist was discharged from the Charite hospital on 23 September and is expected to make a full recovery.
In a recent interview with German Spiegel magazine, Navalny accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind his alleged poisoning. The Kremlin described his statement as "extremely insulting and unacceptable."