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Alexei Navalny working with CIA, says Kremlin

The Kremlin has­ ­accused opposition leader Alexei Navalny of working with the CIA.

Alexei Navalny takes the air in a Berlin park last week. Picture: Instagram via AFP
Alexei Navalny takes the air in a Berlin park last week. Picture: Instagram via AFP

The Kremlin has­ ­accused opposition leader Alexei Navalny of working with the CIA and making “groundless and unacceptable statements” after he claimed President Vladimir Putin had orchestrated his poisoning.

The comments from Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov came after Mr Navalny ­accused the President of being ­behind his poisoning with ­novichok in the anti-corruption campaigner’s first published interview since being discharged from a German hospital last week.

“I assert that Putin is behind this act, I don’t see any other explanation,” the 44-year-old told the German weekly Der Spiegel.

Mr Peskov said: “We believe that such charges against the Russian President are absolutely groundless and unacceptable.”

He also claimed that the CIA was “currently working” with Mr Navalny, who studied at Yale University, but did not provide any evidence.

“It’s not the patient who is working with Western security services, it’s Western security services who are working with him,” the Kremlin spokesman said.

“I can even say directly that CIA instructors are currently working with him.”

Mr Navalny was evacuated to Berlin for treatment after he collapsed in August on a flight from Siberia to Moscow after a campaign trip to support opposition candidates in local elections.

The Putin critic was discharged just over a week ago after Germany found that he was poisoned with the Soviet-­designed nerve agent novichok. The Kremlin has denied any ­involvement.

In the interview with Der Spiegel, Mr Navalny again vowed to return to Russia as soon as he has fully recovered, saying he would not give Mr Putin “the gift” of his absence from the country. “Not returning would mean that Putin has achieved his aim,” he said.

Earlier on Thursday the Speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, also accused the “shameless” opposition leader of working for Western security services and claimed Mr Navalny owed his life to the President.

“Navalny is a shameless and mean man,” Mr Volodin said. “Everyone — from pilots to doctors to the President — were sincerely saving him. Only a dishonourable man can make such statements.

“It is absolutely obvious that Navalny is working with the ­security services and authorities of Western countries.”

Mr Navalny’s supporters ­organised his medical evacuation after Russian doctors treating him said they found no evidence of poisoning and suggested he had a problem with his metabolism.

Mr Putin is believed to have told French President Emmanuel Macron that Mr Navalny may have poisoned himself to try to discredit Russia.

Russian opposition activists have frequently faced violence and even dubious criminal charges, and Mr Navalny is no exception. In 2017 he almost lost the sight in his right eye when a pro-Putin activist threw a chemical substance in his face.

Mr Navalny’s comments to the press came as European leaders were holding a summit during which the question of a response to Russia may be raised over the Kremlin critic’s case.

Germany, which holds the presidency of the EU, has said toxicology tests show he was poisoned by novichok, and France and Sweden have independently corroborated the findings.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has also warned Moscow of possible sanctions if it failed to thoroughly investigate the case. In a sign of how seriously she was taking the case, the German leader paid a visit to Mr Navalny in the Berlin hospital Charite where he was receiving treatment.

Germany’s top diplomat urged Russia to investigate the poisoning of Mr Navalny when he ­addressed the UN General ­Assembly this week.

In a video address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Mr Navalny’s poisoning was a violation of the ban on chemical weapons and therefore a problem for “the entire international community”.

AFP

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/vladimir-putin-ordered-hit-job-says-alexei-navalny/news-story/1120b32d3cd63ac03dfe4c3639769086