UK summons Russian ambassador over Navalny poisoning

Britain’s government on Monday said it had called in Russia’s ambassador to voice its “deep concern” at the poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

“Today the UK summoned Russia’s Ambassador to the UK (Andrei Kelin) to register deep concern about the poisoning” of Navalny, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab wrote on Twitter.

“It’s completely unacceptable that a banned chemical weapon has been used and Russia must hold a full, transparent investigation.”

Raab on Sunday had pointed the finger of blame at elements linked to the Russian state, after German doctors treating Navalny said he had traces of Novichok in his system.

The Soviet-era nerve agent was used against a Russian former double agent, Sergei Skripal, in the English city of Salisbury in March 2018.

Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, survived but a homeless woman who came into contact with a perfume bottle thought to have contained the chemical died four months later.

Moscow denied involvement but London expelled 23 Russian diplomats in retaliation, worsening diplomatic ties that had been strained since another poisoning in London in 2006.

Russia had likewise rejected any link to the death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned with highly radioactive polonium-210 at a hotel in the British capital.

Raab said it was “clear” Novichok was used against Navalny and pointed to some form of Russian state involvement, “simply because Novichok is hard to get your hands on, hard to control”.

German doctors on Monday said Navalny, 44, was now out of a medically induced coma and was being weaned off mechanical ventilation.

Raab said he was “relieved” at the news. “I hope his condition continues to improve,” he added.