Western Intelligence Services Believe Navalny Poisoned By Russia's FSB - Reports

The security agencies of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, among other Western states, are convinced that Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny was poisoned by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), The Guardian reported on Friday, citing sources

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th October, 2020) The security agencies of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, among other Western states, are convinced that Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny was poisoned by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), The Guardian reported on Friday, citing sources.

On Thursday, the European Union imposed sanctions against six Russian citizens and one scientific institution over the Navalny case. Among these individuals was FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov

According to the report, the Western spies' conclusion was what underpinned the EU's decision to sanction Bortnikov.

Two sources claimed to The Guardian that the FSB's Second Service, in particular, was believed to be behind Navalny's alleged poisoning. This FSB department is responsible for handling counter-terrorism and threats to Russia's constitutional order. According to the report, its aim was not to eliminate Navalny but rather to intimidate him and force him to leave the country.

The newspaper then cites Navalny himself as claiming that Novichok the nerve agent which allegedly was used to poison him was only available to the Russian state, even though Moscow has repeatedly denied this.

Navalny fully recovered from the suspected poisoning with a military-grade nerve agent and was released from the Berlin-based Charite hospital on September 23, a month from his original date of hospitalization.

The 44-year-old was hospitalized in the Siberian city of Omsk after feeling unwell during a domestic flight on August 20. Russian doctors found no traces of poisons in Navalny's samples and suggested he could have suffered an abrupt drop of glucose in his blood due to metabolic disbalance.

Two days later, Navalny was flown to Germany for further treatment under a medically-induced coma. The German government claimed on September 2 that it had found traces of a Novichok group toxin in his samples.

Russia has demanded that Germany provide evidence and make case materials available to Russian investigators. At Moscow's request, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) sent a technical mission to assist the Russian investigation. Last week, OPCW confirmed Navalny's samples contained traces of a toxic substance, albeit not one registered by the organization as prohibited.