The Navalny case was one of the discussion points at talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun earlier in the day in Moscow. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the United States threatened a strong response if it turns out that Navalny had been poisoned due to his opposition activism.
"Drawing the counterpart's attention to the inadmissibility of unfounded accusations, we emphasized that the Russian leadership stands for the most rigorous and most objective investigation of what had happened," the press release read.
The ministry recalled how Russian doctors had made all of Navalny's medical records, including testing results, available to their German counterparts when the blogger was being transported to the Berlin-based Charite hospital from a Russian hospital.
"We count on that German doctors will exercise an equally professional attitude and prevent their lab tests from being used for any politicized purposes," the ministry said.
The Russian side, at a meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun, drew attention to the suspicious haste with which the US and the EU picked up the version that Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny had allegedly been poisoned.
"The attention of the US interlocutor was drawn to the suspicious haste with which the version of the deliberate poisoning of Alexei Navalny was picked up in Washington and Brussels. The question inevitably arises — who benefits from this? Definitely not the Russian leadership," the ministry said.
"Moreover, we again recalled our readiness to consider not only this particular case but also the so-called 'Litvinenko and Skripal cases', which are now again — simultaneously and as if on command — remembered by the Western media," it added.
At the same time, it is emphasized that "there are no answers to all our extremely specific questions yet."
The US Offers Assistance in Possible Investigation
The United States is willing to help in a possible investigation into the sudden illness of Russian opposition activist Alexey Navalny if the reports about him being poisoned prove to be accurate, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement on Tuesday.
"The United States is deeply concerned by reported preliminary conclusions from German medical experts that Russian opposition activist Aleksey Navalny was poisoned," Pompeo said. "If the reports prove accurate, the United States supports the EU’s call for a comprehensive investigation and stands ready to assist in that effort."
Navalny's Illness: How It Happened?
Last Thursday, Navalny suffered an acute health condition which kicked him into a coma during a domestic Russian flight. Following an emergency landing in the Siberian city of Omsk, he was hospitalized with suspected poisoning as one of the possible reasons behind his condition. Russian doctors subsequently found no poison traces in his samples and opined that the deterioration was caused by an abrupt drop of glucose in his blood due to metabolic disbalance.
On Saturday, Navalny was flown to Berlin for further treatment. German doctors claimed they found traces of intoxication with a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors in his body, which Russian doctors denied, citing the patient's test results.
