DISINFO: Navalny's poisoning could be a provocation by EU
SUMMARY
Behind the situation with Alexei Navalny may be foreign states that seek to destabilise the political situation in Russia. The poisoning of the blogger could have been a “provocation” by the European Union. It could have been an attempt on the part of foreign states to harm the health of a Russian citizen in order to create tensions within Russia.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative on Navalny poisoning. A prominent Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny fell ill during a flight from Siberia to Moscow on the 20th of August. Initially hospitalized in Omsk, at the request of his family he was transferred to Charité hospital in Berlin. 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 EU condemned in the strongest possible terms the assassination attempt on Alexei Navalny. Pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets frequently present a variety of mutually exclusive versions of what happened to Alexei Navalny . Similar techniques were used to sow doubt about the poisoning of Sergei Skripal with the nerve agent Novichok by GRU agents.