Russian Envoy Says Moscow Does Not Expect OPCW To Begin Cooperation On Navalny Case

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th November, 2021) Russia does not expect the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to switch to cooperation with Moscow at an upcoming conference in the alleged poisoning case of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, the country's permanent representative to the OPCW, Alexander Shulgin, said on Friday.

In early November, Shulgin said that Moscow saw no signs of the organization's readiness for a constructive dialogue with Russia on Navalny.

"I would like to be an optimist and expect some kind of positive turning point, but we need to be realistic people, and my guess is that we will still be in confrontation. No sign of a possible shift for the time being," Shulgin told a press briefing, answering a Sputnik correspondent's question.

Earlier in the day, Shulgin said that Russia is still waiting for the response of Western countries to a request for legal assistance in the Navalny case.

The next session of the conference involving member countries of the OPCW will run from November 29 to December 3 in the Hague.

In August 2020, Navalny was allegedly poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent and was airlifted to Berlin for medical treatment. After Navalny returned to Moscow in January 2021, he was arrested on charges of violating his parole conditions. Later, his suspended sentence was replaced with imprisonment in a penal colony.

The US and other countries sent a list of questions to Russia about the Navalny case through the OPCW. In October, Moscow sent a counter request addressed to Germany, France, Sweden and the technical secretariat of the organization. According to Shulgin, the answers Moscow received are "meaningless."