Russian officials claim pancreatitis, not poison, caused Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to fall ill
- The Kremlin critic collapsed on a flight from Siberia to Moscow and was flown to Germany, where experts ruled he was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok
- The EU has sanctioned several senior Russian officials, saying the attack could not have been carried out without the complicity of the Russian government
The 44-year-old anti-corruption campaigner collapsed on a flight from Siberia to Moscow and was transferred for treatment to Germany where experts ruled he was poisoned with the Soviet-designed nerve agent Novichok.
The interior ministry’s Siberian branch said doctors who treated Navalny for two days before he was flown to Berlin confirmed their diagnosis of “disruption of carbohydrate metabolism and chronic pancreatitis”.
“The diagnosis of ‘poisoning’ … was not confirmed,” it said in a statement.
The local branch of the interior ministry added that no poisonous substances were found on Navalny’s clothes or on objects collected from his hotel or the airport cafe in Siberia here he was seen before the flight.
The EU has sanctioned several senior Russian officials over the poisoning, saying the attack with the Novichok could not have been carried out without the complicity of the FSB, the defence ministry and Putin’s executive office.