Russia dismisses Navalny poisoning statement as "disinformation" and "mockery of the dead"

Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for Russia's Foreign Ministry, has commented on a statement by five European countries that Kremlin opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with the toxin epibatidine while he was held in a penal colony, describing it as "disinformation aimed at diverting attention from the West's pressing problems".

Source: Zakharova in a comment to RBC, a Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency; Embassy of Russia in the UK

Quote from Zakharova: "Just when the results of the Nord Stream investigation should have been presented, they bring up Navalny. When officially asked to provide Navalny's test results, they instead issued sensational claims about the Skripal case…

…We will issue a comment once the test results and chemical analyses have been made available. Without this data, all the talk and statements are merely disinformation intended to divert attention from the West's pressing problems."

Details: The Russian embassy in the UK said: "There is no reason whatsoever to credit such 'findings' by Western 'experts'."

Quote from the embassy: "We have become accustomed to the feeble-mindedness of Western fabulists. One must ask what kind of person would believe this nonsense about a frog.

Yet what truly shocks is the method now favoured by Western politicians – necro-propaganda. This is not a quest for justice but a mockery of the dead. Even after the death of the Russian citizen, London and the European capitals cannot allow him to rest in peace – a fact that speaks volumes about those who instigated this campaign."

Background: The UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden said in the statement that laboratory tests show that Navalny died after being exposed to a toxin found in a tree frog native to Ecuador.

For reference: The Skripal case refers to the 2018 poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, UK, with a military-grade nerve agent. Russia was widely blamed for the attack, which sparked international condemnation and sanctions.

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