DISINFO: Navalny was not poisoned, it was his chronic diseases that worsened

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the poisoning of Alexei Navalny. The poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was confirmed in three independent laboratories. 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. On 14 September, the German government provided research results by two more independent laboratories in France and Sweden, which confirmed the presence of a poison from the Novichok group in the body of politician Alexei Navalny. As explained in Berlin, samples taken from Navalny were sent to these two countries for independent investigation. In addition, samples were also sent to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which will conduct its own research. Background: A prominent Russian opposition figure, Alexey Navalnyfell ill during a flight and the plane had to make an emergency landing in Omsk. Doctors there said he was in a coma and they were trying to save his life. Since then he has beentransferred to Berlin and is receiving treatment at Berlin's Charité Hospital. On 14 September, the German Charité hospital said that Navalny had been disconnected from a ventilator. Doctors also reported that the opposition politician started getting up from his hospital bed. Doctors cannot yet predict the long-term consequences for his body. Earlier, German media reported that specialists from the Munich Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology of the Bundeswehr found traces of a toxic substance from the Novichok group in the blood, urine and skin of Alexei Navalny, as well as on a bottle that he had with him on the plane. TheEuropean Union condemned the poisoning of Alexei Navalny in the strongest possible terms.