Germans: Putin critic poisoned

BERLIN -- Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with the same type of Soviet-era nerve agent used in a 2018 attack on a former Russian spy, the German government said Wednesday, provoking anger from Western leaders who demanded that Moscow provide an explanation.

The findings -- which experts say point to Russian state involvement -- added to tensions between Russia and the West. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Navalny's poisoning attempted murder, meant to silence one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's fiercest critics.

The Berlin hospital treating the dissident said he remains on a ventilator though his condition is improving. It said it expects a long recovery and still can't rule out long-term effects on his health from the poisoning.

The German government said that testing by a German military laboratory showed "proof without doubt of a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group." British authorities identified Novichok as the poison used on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England.

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"There are very serious questions now that only the Russian government can answer, and must answer," Merkel said.

The United Kingdom and Italy also called on Russia to explain what happened, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling the use of a chemical weapon "outrageous." In Washington, National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot tweeted that it was "completely reprehensible."

"We will work with allies and the international community to hold those in Russia accountable, wherever the evidence leads," Ullyot said.

The European Union's foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, said any use of chemical weapons is "a breach of international law."

Navalny, a politician and corruption investigator, fell ill on a flight to Moscow on Aug. 20 and was taken to a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk after the plane made an emergency landing.

He was moved two days later to Berlin's Charite hospital, where doctors last week said initial tests indicated he had been poisoned.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the Russian ambassador was summoned to his ministry Wednesday after the latest findings.

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Russia's deputy U.N. ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, dismissed the finger-pointing as a knee-jerk reaction. "Today accusing #Russia is a must-do for any Western country," he said in a tweet.

In Moscow, Russian authorities were quick to blame Germany for not sharing its findings.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian authorities are "ready and interested in full cooperation and exchange of information" with Germany but added that Berlin still hasn't provided any official response to formal requests from the Russian prosecutor general's office and doctors who treated Navalny.

Peskov reiterated that Russian doctors didn't find any poisonous substances in Navalny's system. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova charged on state TV that Germany preferred "public statements without providing any facts whatsoever" to "a thorough investigation."

The German government said it would inform its partners in the European Union and NATO about the test results and would consult them on a response. Germany also will contact the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Andrea Sella, a professor of inorganic chemistry at University College London, said Navalny's prognosis is hard to predict. He said "very swift action" is needed to stabilize patients in poisoning cases and noted the "significant delay," given that Navalny was initially cared for by Russian doctors who said they had ruled out poisoning.

"The problem is that even if Mr. Navalny were to survive, there may be lingering long-term neurological issues," Sella said.

Navalny's allies in Russia have insisted that he was deliberately poisoned by the country's authorities, accusations that the Kremlin has rejected as "empty noise."

"To poison Navalny with Novichok in 2020 would be exactly the same as leaving an autograph at a crime scene, like this one," Navalny's longtime ally and strategist Leonid Volkov said in a tweet that featured a photo of Putin's name and a signature next to it.

Navalny's allies have also accused Russian authorities of delaying his transfer out of the country after the poisoning.

Novichok is a class of military-grade nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. Western weapons experts believe it was only ever manufactured in Russia. After the Skripals were poisoned, Russia said the U.S., Britain and other Western countries had acquired the expertise to make the nerve agent and that the Novichok used in that attack could have come from them.

Information for this article was contributed by Daria Litvinova, Jill Lawless, Raf Casert, Matthew Lee, David Rising, Frank Jordans and Edith M. Lederer of The Associated Press.