The sanctioned institution is also the State Scientific and Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology (GosNIIOChT) in Moscow. The sanctions were published in the EU’s Official Journal on Thursday.
October 6 Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed that a substance belonging to the Nowiczoki group was used against Navalny, i.e. poisonous warfare agents designed by scientists in the USSR for military purposes.
Poisoning Navalny. Sergey Lavrov: Russia will respond to EU sanctions
The head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, warned that Moscow will respond symmetrically to the sanctions imposed on it by the EU in connection with an attempt to poison the oppositionist Alexei Navalny. Lavrov also accused Germany of failing to provide Russia with the facts in this case.
– We respond symmetrically, this is a diplomatic practice – said the minister in an interview with Russian media, including the high-circulation newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda”.
He stated that Russia is under no obligation to account before European Union from its actions because it has its own constitution and laws. The future of relations with the EU will not be good, he assessed. – Economic interests should be maintained. The economic operators should decide for themselves what is in their favor. But to run and humiliate ourselves – that is below our dignity – said Lavrov.
He referred to his telephone conversation with the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, and assessed that the EU representative “as an experienced man is well aware that without Russia it is difficult to resolve many issues in which the EU is interested”. He assessed that the European Union should be encouraged to enter into a partnership with Russia, for example by “an instinct to ensure one’s own interests”.
Nevertheless, he added, “for the time being, the European Union is unable to cope with the Russophobic minority” which “is blocking some constructive approach to developing relations with Russia”.
Who is Alexei Navalny?
Sharply criticizing the rule of Russian president Vladimir Putin, 44-year-old Navalny was hospitalized on August 20 in Omsk, Siberia. The opposition activist felt bad on board a plane flying from Tomsk to Moscow and lost consciousness. At his family’s request, he was transferred to the Charite clinic in Berlin a few days later, where he was examined and treated.
Alexey Navalny is a 44-year-old Russian lawyer, publicist and political activist. In 2012, The Wall Street Journal described him as “the man Vladimir Putin fears the most.” In 2016, he launched a campaign ahead of the 2018 presidential election, but Russia’s Central Election Commission blocked his candidacy in December 2017.
Navalny and his associates have been detained many times, especially during the campaign leading up to the presidential elections in Russia. In May 2018, Navalny was shut down for 30 days for participating in an illegal anti-Putin protest in Moscow.
(mzs)
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