Group confirms nerve agent in poisoning

In this photo published by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on his Instagram account on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020, Alexei Navalny, left, holds "Ultimate Phantomias" book as his son Zahar holds the German news magazine Der Spiegel with a portrait of Navalny on the cover. Navalny told Der Spiegel magazine in his first interview since the attack, that in his mind, "Putin was behind the attack." (Navalny instagram via AP)
In this photo published by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on his Instagram account on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020, Alexei Navalny, left, holds "Ultimate Phantomias" book as his son Zahar holds the German news magazine Der Spiegel with a portrait of Navalny on the cover. Navalny told Der Spiegel magazine in his first interview since the attack, that in his mind, "Putin was behind the attack." (Navalny instagram via AP)

BERLIN -- A global chemical watchdog group has confirmed Germany and other countries' findings that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was the victim of an attack with a Soviet-era nerve agent, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said Tuesday.

Steffen Seibert said in a statement that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons had carried out its own analysis of samples taken from Navalny, and they "agree with the results already from special laboratories in Germany, Sweden and France."

Navalny, a corruption investigator who is Russian President Vladimir Putin's fiercest critic, was flown to Germany two days after falling ill on Aug. 20 during a domestic flight in Russia. German officials said last month that labs found traces of a chemical agent from the novichok family in the Russian politician's system.

"This once again confirms unequivocally that Alexei Navalny was the victim of an attack with a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group," Seibert said.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said it was just happenstance that German labs had been the first to conclude that Navalny had been poisoned by novichok because he was being treated in Berlin, and suggested that the watchdog report means Russia can no longer make excuses not to respond.

"The [Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons] will make its results, and as far as possible also its analysis, available to all 193 member states," Maas said. "That is important because it's not a bilateral issue between Germany and Russia, it's an international topic -- the use of a nerve agent affects the entire international community."

He added that for Germany, "any use of chemical weapons is completely unacceptable and cannot go unanswered."

In a statement, the director-general of the chemical-weapons group, Fernando Arias called the test results "a matter of grave concern."

Asked about the watchdog's report in a conference call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refrained from comment, saying that the Kremlin needs to see the report to react.

Seibert said Germany received the watchdog group's report on Monday and was still examining it. Officials were still trying to determine how much of the information could be released to the public without causing a security risk by allowing knowledge of the substance to "fall into the wrong hands."

He added that Germany would be consulting closely in the coming days with the watchdog group and a group of European Union partners to talk about the next steps.

Experts from the chemical-weapons organization gathered their own samples from Navalny and sent them to two designated labs for tests.

Earlier Tuesday, Germany and its allies at a meeting of the organization's executive council called on Moscow to fully investigate and explain how Navalny was poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent.

"It is up to Russia -- where the chemical attack occurred -- to shed light on the incident, and to provide an explanation on how a chemical nerve agent came to be used in a reckless act against a Russian citizen on Russian soil," Germany's representative to the organization, Gudrun Lingner, said in a statement.

A handout photo published by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on his instagram account on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020. German doctors say Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny released from hospital after poisoning treatment. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been released from a Berlin hospital after more than a month's treatment for poisoning, with doctors now believing that a “complete recovery” from the nerve agent is possible, the facility said Wednesday Sept. 23. (Navalny instagram via AP)
A handout photo published by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on his instagram account on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020. German doctors say Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny released from hospital after poisoning treatment. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been released from a Berlin hospital after more than a month's treatment for poisoning, with doctors now believing that a “complete recovery” from the nerve agent is possible, the facility said Wednesday Sept. 23. (Navalny instagram via AP)

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