German chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday that Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition figure who is currently being hospitalized in Berlin, is the victim of a murder attempt using the nerve agent Novichok.

She added that Germany will be sharing the findings of its investigation with its European Union (EU) and NATO partners, while the EU condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the assassination attempt and called on Russia to thoroughly investigate it.

Russia's foreign ministry responded by saying that Germany's assertion that Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was poisoned was not backed up with evidence, RIA news agency reported.

A U.S. government source familiar with U.S. intelligence reporting and analysis told Reuters that the United States has no reason to doubt the German government's assessment that a Novichok nerve agent was used to poison Alexei Navalny.

Novichok was developed in the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s and means "newcomer."

It is used for a family of highly toxic nerve agents with a composition slightly different from the better known poison gases VX and sarin.

For more info, please go to [ Ссылка ]

Subscribe to Global News Channel HERE: [ Ссылка ]
Like Global News on Facebook HERE: [ Ссылка ]
Follow Global News on Twitter HERE: [ Ссылка ]
Follow Global News on Instagram HERE: [ Ссылка ]
#GlobalNews

свернуть