Russian police have traced the movements of opposition politician Alexei Navalny and what he ate before he fell ill in Siberia last month, and are looking for a witness who has left the country, the Interior Ministry said Friday. Trying to
The ministry said it was preparing another
request for legal aid from Germany, where Navalny was taken’ to hospital last
month, after Berlin said he had been poisoned by Novichok nerve agent.
In Siberia, the Interior Ministry's
transport department said in a statement that it wanted to send investigators
along with German colleagues to investigate the case, following reports that
Navalny had been born in a coma.
"This request will include the
possible presence of Russian internal affairs investigators ... and a request
for a Russian expert while German colleagues are investigating with Navalny,
doctors and specialists," the ministry said in a statement.
It also sought clarification and
permission to ask additional questions.
The request is unlikely to succeed, given
that Germany says it has already established Novichok presence and has sought
an explanation from Moscow. Some German politicians have called for additional
sanctions against Russia.
Russia has not launched a formal criminal
investigation and insists it needs strong evidence from Germany that Navalny
was indeed poisoned.
The ministry said transport police in
Tomsk had drawn up a timeline of the incidents that resulted in Navalny falling
ill. It listed a hotel, restaurant, flat and coffee shop that Navalny had
visited, and said he had drunk wine and a cocktail.
In the days following Navalny's illness,
his spokesman vehemently denied allegations that he had been drinking.
Police interviewed five of the six people
who were said’ to have fallen ill with Navalny during the trip, the ministry
said. It said it was looking for a sixth man, Marina Pevchikh, a British
resident who had left for Germany on August 22 and was said’ to have been in
custody at the time. Is.
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