DISINFO: Navalny poisoning: The West needed a pretext to open sanctions against Russia
DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS
  • Outlet: southfront.org (archived)*
  • Date of publication: September 04, 2020
  • Outlet language(s): English
  • Reported in: Issue 210
  • Countries / regions discussed: France, Germany, US, Belarus, Russia
Tags:
novichok Democratic Party (US) Deep state Alexei Navalny Conspiracy theory

DISINFO: Navalny poisoning: The West needed a pretext to open sanctions against Russia

SUMMARY

It is not possible to openly impose sanctions in response to the Russian-Belarusian rapprochement, it is too rough and strained. Thus, there was a need for a pretext that was sufficiently weighty to take measures of pressure. The perfect pretext is the poisoning of Navalny, which miraculously took place at the most appropriate moment. Navalny’s personality has become the trigger of sanctions pressure, and his fate is a direct signal to Moscow. It is not a coincidence that the German foreign Ministry issued a statement that the development of the situation with Navalny directly depends on Moscow’s actions. Pressure on Moscow is being exerted by the united front of the leaders of Germany, France, and the United States, primarily by the leadership of the democratic party and its “deep state”.

RESPONSE

An unfounded conspiracy theory, suggesting western powers stand behind the attack on Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. A prominent Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny fell ill during a flight and the plane to make an emergency landing in Omsk, where doctors said he was in a coma and they were trying to save his life. Since then he has been transferred to Berlin and is receiving treatment at Berlin's Charite Hospital. 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. The European Union condemned poisoning of Alexei Navalny in the strongest possible terms. See related disinformation cases alleging that the US hopes that the Navalny case will lead to cancellation of Nord Stream 2; that the US used Navalny case to block Russian vaccine against COVID-19; that the West has interest in death of Navalny to launch a new wave of sanctions against Russia.

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Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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