DISINFO: Navalny incident is a US plot to disrupt Nord Stream 2
SUMMARY
The chief aim of the Navalny incident has been to disrupt the construction of Nord Stream 2. This is what the whole operation is about. It is a pure set-up, and it was obviously perpetrated by the Americans.
RESPONSE
The claim advances recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the poisoning of activist Alexei Navalny and the alleged harmful influence of Washington on European politics. There are no grounds for connecting Navalny's poisoning with Nord Stream 2, or to allege US involvement in the incident. The activist fell ill on a 20 August flight from Siberia to Moscow. Initially hospitalized in Omsk, he was transferred to the Charité hospital in Berlin at the request of his family. Clinical findings at the Charité hospital indicated that Navalny was poisoned with a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors. Subsequent toxicological tests revealed the presence of a Novichok-type nerve agent in Navalny's blood. Polluting Western media environments with multiple contradictory narratives of a given event is an established strategy of pro-Kremlin media outlets. See here for an overview of, and similarities between, Russian disinformation campaigns surrounding the 2018 Skripal poisoning and the 2020 Navalny poisoning.