The State Department on Wednesday blamed Russia’s internal security service, the FSB, for being behind the near-fatal attack on Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, allegedly by nervous agent Novichok, in a strong indictment against Moscow.
“The United States believes that Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officers used a Novichok nervous agent to poison Mr. Navalny. There is no plausible explanation for Mr Navalny’s poisoning other than the involvement and responsibility of the Russian government, “a State Department spokesman said in a statement to The Hill on Wednesday.
“Of course, President Putin and the Russian government will make us believe otherwise. Russia has suggested numerous, often contradictory, conspiracy theories. Let’s be clear – these kinds of conspiracy theories are nothing more than a way to divert attention from serious questions before the Russian government that he has not yet answered. “
The spokesman said the United States had “full confidence” in the findings of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in October that toxic chemicals taken from Navalny’s blood and urine were linked to the Novichok group.
“The United States has full confidence in the OPCW’s findings, which confirmed previous results from German, French and Swedish laboratories, that Mr Navalny was exposed to an unscheduled Novichok nerve agent,” the spokesman said.
The State Department statement comes after the publication of a joint investigation between Navalny, the Bellingcat online press and CNN, which revealed that an elite unit within the FSB poisoned Navalny’s panties after following the opposition for almost three years.
Navalny is currently recovering in Germany, where he was transferred in August from a Russian hospital in Omsk, where he was initially treated after falling ill on a plane leaving the city of Tomsk.
Navalny is a remarkable spin on the Russian president Vladimir Putin
State Department Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin says that the Russian security agency behind the Navalny poisoning Doctors reveal Navalny symptoms, treatment in a new article Democracy, History and Law on Presidential Records MOREand gained notoriety for his investigations into corruption by Russian government officials.
Russia has denied responsibility for the attack on Navalny, and Putin denied at a news conference on Thursday allegations that the FSB had been involved, although he said that if they were involved, “they would most likely have done so.” a”.
The State Department’s statement blaming Moscow is likely to increase tensions between the United States and Russia and comes as the Trump administration faces an unprecedented cyber hack in several agencies that senior officials have blamed in Moscow.