Russia asks Germany for copious details of poison tests on Navalny

MOSCOW, September 2

Russia has asked Germany to provide exhaustive details of medical tests conducted on Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition politician lying in a coma in Berlin after a suspected poisoning in Siberia last month, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Russian newspaper RBC said the general prosecutor’s office had asked Germany’s justice ministry for information on Navalny’s treatment, including test results for drugs, poisons, heavy metals and cholinesterase inhibitors, which affect the nervous system.

There was no immediate comment from the prosecutor’s office, or from the German justice ministry on how it would respond to the request.

Russian prosecutors said last month they saw no need for a criminal investigation into the case as they had found no sign that any crime had been committed. “Is there a conclusion of a commission of forensic medical experts with a detailed spectral analysis of any narcotic, psychotropic, potent, poisonous substances identified in the organism of A.A. Navalny, including heavy metals?” asked the letter, which was posted in full on RBC’s website. “Were any substances found in A.A. Navalny’s biological specimens from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors? Which ones, exactly?” It posed a series of other detailed questions, including: – What medicines were being used to treat Navalny, and in what doses? Whether his condition had worsened, and why? What were the results of tests on his heart and respiratory and central nervous systems? The prosecutor’s office asked for samples to be taken from Navalny’s blood, urine, hair, nails, saliva and the inside of his cheek, and for copies of medical reports to be provided as soon as possible.(Reuters) –