DISINFO: OPCW report confirms Navalny was not poisoned
SUMMARY
The OPCW report on the alleged Navalny poisoning states that the cholinesterase inhibitors found in Navalny’s biomedical samples are not prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Convention. In other words, even the OPCW has denied that Navalny was exposed to any kind of poison.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative on the poisoning of Russian activist Alexei Navalny.
The claim grossly misrepresents the contents of the OPCW report pertaining to the Navalny poisoning. The document states the compounds found in the activist's blood and urine samples:
"have similar structural characteristics to the toxic chemicals belonging to schedules 1.A.14 and 1.A.15" (para. 5).
This fact alone demonstrates that Navalny was poisoned with a weapons-grade chemical. Any toxic substance listed in Schedule 1 of the Annex on Chemicals must meet several criteria including, crucially, that it "possesses such lethal or incapacitating toxicity as well as other properties that would enable it to be used as a chemical weapon" (para 1(b)(ii), emphasis added).