DISINFO: The Bellingcat report on Navalny’s “poisoning” was aimed to destroy Nord Stream 2
SUMMARY
The Bellingcat report on Navalny’s “poisoning” was created to destroy Russian pipeline Nord Stream 2, according to international observers that questioned the opportunity of the report and its main goal. All the anti-Russian and anti-Putin political elites in the West will probably benefit from a narrative of poisoning, and a special target is Nord Stream 2. The US, the British and the Poles are against it and they have done everything at hand to put the project to an end. The pretentious investigation of Bellingcat was aimed to try to close it, since on December 11 it was reported that Russia had resumed its work on the pipeline despite US sanctions.
RESPONSE
This is part of a pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign on the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, aiming to deflect any Russian responsibility on the incident by framing it as a false flag operation with obscure motivations: in this case, a baseless claim on a connection with the construction of Nord Stream II.
There is massive evidence proving that Navalny was targeted in a poisoning operation, as established by initial clinical findings at the Charité hospital which indicated that he had been poisoned with a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors. Subsequent toxicological tests established the presence of a Novichok-type chemical nerve agent in Navalny's blood.
On 14 December 2020, a special investigation by Bellingcat, The Insider, CNN and Der Spiegel identified members of the Russian FSB unit involved in the attempt on Navalny’s life. According to The New York Times, the report was also consistent with the information on the case gathered by German intelligence services. Bellingcat also provided a detailed account of the methods used to identify the FSB operatives. A week later, on 21 December, Bellingcat has disclosed a recorded conversation in which a member of the suspected FSB poison squad describes how his unit carried out, and attempted to clean up evidence of, the poisoning of Alexey Navalny.
See other examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives on Alexei Navalny’s poisoning in our database, such as claims that only caffeine and alcohol were found in his blood, that the US wanted to use it to block Russia's vaccine against coronavirus, that the West hopes that he dies to have an excuse for new sanctions, or that Western accusations on Navalny’s case are as false as they were about Sergei Skripal and Alexander Litvinenko.
This disinformation message appeared in the same article than the claim that “The Bellingcat report on Navalny’s 'poisoning' was a reminder for the electoral college to vote for Biden”.