DISINFO: The West exploits Navalny's case to impose sanctions on Russia
SUMMARY
The case of the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is exploited by the West to impose sanctions against Moscow. Russia is unnecessarily and falsely accused. If that was the goal, the Russian state had many ways to get rid of Navalny. It could have orchestrated a delayed hospitalisation or send a killer to finish the job at the Omsk clinic. It could have also used a more effective poison or just set up an accident, instead of risking failure.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative on Navalny poisoning. A prominent Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny fell ill during a flight from Siberia to Moscow on the 20th of August. Initially hospitalized in Omsk, at the request of his family he was transferred to Charité hospital in Berlin. Clinical findings at the Charité hospital indicated that Navalny was poisoned with a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors. Subsequent toxicological tests provided unequivocal evidence of a chemical nerve agent of the Novichok group in the blood samples of Alexei Navalny. The use of multiple and simultaneous versions about an event involving questionable actions by the Russian government or its allies, in order to confound citizens about the actual truth, is a recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation strategy, already seen in the cases of the MH17 downing, the illegal annexation of Crimea, the murder attempt against Sergei and Yulia Skripal or chemical attacks in Syria. See an earlier disinformation case alleging that the reports of the Western media on Skripal poisoning are propaganda to justify sanctions against Russia.