Disinfo: Alexei Navalny was not poisoned

Summary

Russian authorities say it was not a poisonous substance that caused Alexei Navalny’s illness in August, but pancreatitis.

Navalny’s wife informed the doctors that her husband had restricted his diet and that for 3-5 days he suffered from a feeling of discomfort after meals. His wife also speculated that the discomfort may have been caused by the patient’s diet aimed at losing weight.

The narrative further claims that doctors, after repeated chemical and toxicological studies, diagnosed disorders of carbohydrate metabolism (Primary diagnosis); chronic pancreatitis with dysfunction of the exocrine and endocrine glands, complications (secondary diagnosis).

Disproof

Recurring disinformation message on the Alexei Navalny poisoning.

The wife of Alexei Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya denied all the allegations of the Russian Interior Ministry on 7 November: "don't believe a single word of it". One purpose of this message is to mock the appearance of the opponent, that he would be to fat and have to restrict his alimentation, however Alexei Navalny said in one interview that the doctors of Charite hospital told him one of the factors that made him survive was his good physical form because he was jogging and swimming regularly and having a balanced alimentation.

The poisoning by a new generation military grade nerve agent has been established.

Alexei Navalny fell ill during a flight and the plane had to make an emergency landing in Omsk in Russia, before being transferred to Berlin where the German Federal government said that toxicological tests provided “unequivocal evidence of a chemical nerve agent of the Novichok group” in the blood samples of Alexei Navalny.

In addition, on 14 September, the German government provided research by two more independent laboratories in France and Sweden, which confirmed the presence of poison from the Novichok group in the body of politician Alexei Navalny.

Arne Collatz, a spokesman for Germany’s Defence Ministry said the data had been provided to the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

The OPCW report, published 8 October, also supports the German conclusions. The OPCW report can be found here.

Furthermore, on September 11, Berlin’s Justice Ministry approved a request from Moscow for legal assistance in the investigation and information on Navalny’s state of health, “subject to his consent.

The European Union condemned the poisoning of Alexei Navalny in the strongest possible terms.

Read similar stories: Following US orders, Germany disguised Navalny’s low blood sugar as action of a “nerve agent”, Berlin doesn’t have evidence that Navalny was poisoned , Many questions to be answered on Navalny blood tests in Berlin.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 219
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 06/11/2020
  • Outlet language(s) French, Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Russia
  • Keywords: novichok, Alexei Navalny
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Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Ukrainian statehood.

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Disproof

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And what is happening now is certainly astounding. Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani stated there had been machinations during the vote count. Even the OSCE notes the bias in the American TV channels’ coverage of the US election.

Disproof

The story is part of an emerging pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative seeking to delegitimise the conduct and results of the 2020 US presidential election.

The OSCE report referred to in the segment noted that President Trump had issued warnings of large-scale falsification "without presenting any substantial evidence of systematic malfeasance and contradicting election officials at all levels" (p. 3), and that "[i]n contrast to these allegations, national security agencies issued statements attempting to reassure citizens about the integrity of the election process" (p. 11).