A participant holds a banner that reads “One for all, all for one” during a rally in support of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny imprisoned in Moscow, Russia, January 23, 2021.
Maxim Shemetov | Reuters
In his first press conference since being confirmed as secretary of state, Antony Blinken expressed “deep concern” over Alexei Navalny’s treatment and the wider human rights situation in Russia.
Last week, Navalny, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, flew to Russia from Berlin, where he spent almost half a year recovering from poisoning last summer. He was detained on arrival in Moscow.
“In general, as the President has said, we are examining all these actions which concern us deeply whether it is Mr Navalny’s treatment and, in particular, the apparent use of a chemical weapon in the attempt to assassinate him. “Blinken said.
Last year, Navalny was medically evacuated to Germany from a Russian hospital after reports of something added to tea. Russian doctors who treated Navalny denied that the Kremlin critic had been poisoned and blamed his comatose state on his low blood sugar.
In September, the German government said the 44-year-old Russian dissident had been poisoned by a chemical nerve agent, describing the toxicology report as “unequivocal evidence”. The nervous agent was in the Novichok family, which was developed by the Soviet Union.
Following the test results, the White House said it was concerned about the issue and denounced the poisoning.
“The United States is deeply troubled by the results released today,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot said in a statement at the time. “Alexei Navalny’s intoxication is completely reprehensible. Russia has used the chemical nerve agent Novichok in the past,” he said, referring to the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK in 2018.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied any involvement in the Skirpal and Navalny incidents.
“And it is striking to me, how worried and perhaps even scared, the Russian government seems to belong to one man, Mr Navalny,” Blinken said on Wednesday.
The top US diplomat also mentioned that the Biden administration is analyzing the hack on SolarWinds, the reports about the rewards placed by Russia on the American forces in Afghanistan and the potential electoral interferences.