Russia is investigating Navalny again | Current world | DW

Alexei Navalny was accused of having privately used donations to public organizations he controlled, it said. He and other, unnamed people would have spent 356 million rubles (about 3.9 million euros) in this way. It was partly used to finance vacations, Moscow said.

On Twitter, Navalny said the allegations were fabricated and appeared to be as directed by President Vladimir Putin. The opposition politician is in Germany. He had collapsed on a domestic flight in August and was flown out for treatment at the Berlin Charite. According to the federal government, he was poisoned with a neurotoxin from the Novitschok group. This group of poisonous monkeys had been developed in Soviet times. Laboratory results of the poisoning of the opposition with a chemical agent from the Novichok group had been confirmed by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Putin speaks of a plot

Navalny accuses Putin of being the mastermind behind the attack. According to the EU, the attack could not have taken place without the knowledge and approval of Russian state agencies. The government in Moscow, on the other hand, has rejected participation. Putin said the whole thing was part of a US-backed plot. One wants to discredit him in this way. The incident is putting a considerable strain on German-Russian relations.

Even before the new investigation was announced, the Russian prison authorities issued an ultimatum to Alexei Navalny to fulfill the conditions of an earlier suspended sentence. He must report personally to the Russian authorities and travel to Moscow. Otherwise there is a risk of imprisonment.

Navalny had his spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch explain that he had to recover after the poison attack against him in Germany. It is therefore not possible for him to fly back to Moscow.

haz / ack (rtr, afp, dpa)

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