DISINFO: Alexei Navalny was poisoned by an MI6 agent
SUMMARY
[Alexei Navalny’s] body reacted differently to a fast-acting substance that was rapidly excreted from the body, which his friend Maria Pevchikh gave him. According to a source, she is also an employee (undercover agent) of the [British Secret Intelligence Service] MI6. So, it was the work of Maria Pevchikh. These substances have been in Russia for a long time. They don’t even need to be brought to Russia. They have been kept in the embassies of different countries since the 90s. And there are enough of them for many years. Several people have already died from these substances. However, it will never be possible to prove that it was precisely the poisoning.
RESPONSE
The story advances a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative casting the Navalny poisoning as wholly unconnected to Russia. Clinical findings at the Charité hospital indicated that Navalny was poisoned with a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors. Subsequent toxicological tests provided unequivocal evidence of a chemical nerve agent of the Novichok group in the blood samples of Alexei Navalny. The use of multiple and simultaneous versions about an event involving questionable actions by the Russian government or its allies, in order to confound citizens searching for the actual truth, is a recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation strategy, already seen in the cases of the MH17 downing, the illegal annexation of Crimea, the murder attempt against Sergei and Yulia Skripal or chemical attacks in Syria. Read similar disinformation messages alleging that Navalny is an agent of the Russian special services, that Navalny was not poisoned by Novichok and Russian secret services are not involved, that Alexei Navalny, originally an anti-Russian project, was poisoned by his sponsors, or that the Americans are recouping their long-term investment in Alexei.