Alexei Navalny poisoned: Russian Minister Sergey Lavrov says CNN-Belengkat reports were ‘funny to read’
“All this news is funny to read, but it only says one thing – or rather, the way this news is presented it says only one thing – that our Western partners do not have any moral standards and lack skill in normal diplomatic work and and [have] Lavrov added, “The unwillingness to comply with international legal standards when it comes to finding out facts.”
And the [West’s] The logic here: “Look, we have announced … new facts that the German special services have discovered about Navalny’s poisoning, and Moscow is silent for two days – if she is silent, then she is guilty.” “The flaw in this approach, in my opinion, is clear to any sane person,” Lavrov said.
On Monday, CNN and investigative group Bellingcat published an exclusive investigation revealing evidence that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has formed an elite team specializing in the nerve agents that have been behind Navalny for years.
Lavrov’s comment marks the first reaction from a Russian official, as the authorities have largely declined to comment on the findings. The Kremlin has canceled its daily press briefings on Tuesday and Wednesday due to “preparations” for President Vladimir Putin’s annual press conference on Thursday.
In the United States, Republican Congressman Michael McCall said on Wednesday that the CNN-Bellingcat report “reveals really disturbing information about the Putin regime’s guilt in poisoning Alexei Navalny.”
McCall is the most senior Republican member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
In a brief CNN statement, McCall urged the current US administration to complete the investigation into the poisoning cases as requested by himself and Democrat Representative Eliot Engel.
McCall said that the administration should “publish its findings immediately so that the United States can hold those responsible for this unjustified behavior accountable.”
“Working with this skill and for a long time cannot continue without judgment from the head (of the Russian Federal Security Service), Mr. Bortnikov. And he will never dare to do so without the direct order of President Putin.”
The European Union has since imposed sanctions on several high-ranking officials including Alexander Bortnikov, saying he is “responsible for providing support to people who carried out or participated in the poisoning” of Navalny.
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