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On October 1st, German magazine Der Spiegel published an exclusive interview with Russian neo-liberal opposition figure Alexei Navalny.
On August 20th, he fell ill during a flight from Tomsk, was subsequently transferred to Germany, after which the German government claimed that he was poisoned with Novichok and then he survived, as it usually happens when one is attacked with a Russian poison that’s supposed to leave none alive.
This is Der Spiegel’s description of Navalny:
“Alexei Navalny, 44, is Russia’s most prominent opposition politician. Following the attempt on his life on August 20 in the Siberian city of Tomsk, however, he is now squarely in the international spotlight. German Chancellor Angela Merkel intervened for him to be allowed to leave Russia for treatment in Germany. Because he was poisoned with a substance that can essentially only come from state-run laboratories in Russia, the question of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s personal responsibility is one that many around the world are asking. It’s not the first time that a Russian opposition politician was to be killed, but it is the first time that the circumstances seem to so clearly point at the Kremlin.”
Initially Navalny begins the interview with thanking the German government and the German people for the help, saying he was caught from the blindside with German Chancellor Angela Merkel visiting him and speaking to him, and that he was now a “global political figure” and not a simply “Russian political opposition figure.”
Then comes Navalny’s turn to explain what happened to him, and he does it in a very emotion-filled, but also fact-filled manner.
The facts are only in relation to what the alleged poison does, and no actual evidence is included that makes it “so clear” that the Kremlin ordered the poisoning. As a former blogger, he uses ample computer metaphors.
“It was a wonderful day. I’m on my way home, with a strenuous and successful business trip behind me. We shot videos for the regional election campaign, and everything had gone according to plan. I’m sitting comfortably in my seat and I’m looking forward to a quiet flight during which I can watch a series. Once I get back to Moscow, I am looking forward to recording my weekly YouTube show and then spending the weekend with my family. I feel good, as I did at the airport. And then… it’s hard to describe because there is nothing to compare it with.
Organophosphorus compounds attack your nervous system like a DDos attack attacks the computer – it’s an overload that breaks you. You can no longer concentrate.
I can feel that something is wrong. I break out in a cold sweat. I ask Kira beside me for a tissue.
Then I say to her: Speak to me. I need to hear a voice – something’s wrong with me. She looks at me like I’m crazy and starts talking.”
Fast forward until he goes to the toilet in the airplane, then leaves it.
“I leave the toilet, turn to the steward – and instead of asking for help, I say, to my own surprise: “I’ve been poisoned. I’m dying.”
And then I lay down on the ground in front of him to die. He’s the last thing I see – a face that looks at me with slight astonishment and a light smile. He says: “Poisoned?” and by that he probably means I was served bad chicken.”
He doesn’t specifically remember what he did prior to him boarding the plane, but he simply repeats the official narrative:
“Traces of the poison were found on a water bottle. Apparently I touched a contaminated surface, then reached for the water bottle, drank something from it, put it back and then left the hotel room.
So I assume that I absorbed the poison through my skin. There are many objects that you touch in a hotel before you leave – the shower, the toilet, the clothes rack, the handle of your bag – you are sure to touch something.
That’s why it is so important to examine my clothes. The poison can be applied to any item of personal clothing.”
Those clothes were taken by the Omsk hospital, and they were never returned, to which he replies that he was certain they were sitting in a vat of bleach.
Then it comes to the other famous alleged Novichok poisoning – Skripal. Another incident where no evidence was provided.
“I think they learned their lessons from the Skripal case when 48 people were contaminated and one woman died. That’s why you can’t apply the poison to an object such as the sink or the shower, which I might not even use.
Or to my mobile phone, which I might have given Kira – in which case, instead of one suspicious death, you would have had two. Like I said: I’m just speculating here. Obviously, we’re looking at a more sophisticated means, and it was applied to an object that only I touch.”
It also turned out that the mysterious Maria Pevchikh is actually a Navalny “staff member.”
And of course, the Der Spiegel interviewers make the astute observation that Navalny, supposedly has “many enemies.” And the million-dollar question is: “Who do you think is behind the poisoning?”
And there’s really only one answer, isn’t there?
“I assert that Putin was behind the crime, and I have no other explanation for what happened. I’m not saying this out of self-flattery, but based on the facts. The most important fact is Novichok. The order to use or produce it can only come from two men – the head of the FSB or the head of SWR, the foreign intelligence service.”
Der Spiegel then ties it to the Russian military intelligence agency GRU, which of course allegedly poisoned Skripal, wouldn’t it simpler if it was them doing it, but of course they wouldn’t take action without Putin’s approval.
“Probably also the GRU. When Putin claims that I myself produced Novichok and poisoned myself with it, it’s an impossibility. We can assume that only three people can give the order to initiate “active measures” and deploy Novichok. If you’re familiar with the Russian reality, then you also know that FSB head Alexander Bortnikov, SVR head Naryshkin or the head of the GRU cannot make a decision like that without being instructed by Putin. They report to him.”
And, yet, an order by Russian President Vladimir Putin to allegedly poison and kill his opposition failed, Navalny is alive and recovering.
Then Der Spiegel asks, what if it wasn’t Putin?
“If it wasn’t him, things would be a lot worse. One cup of Novichok would be enough to poison all passengers in a large Berlin subway station. If access to the agent isn’t restricted to three people, but actually 30, then it’s a global threat. That would be terrible.”
Notably, it can’t be anybody else, he doesn’t even mention other suspects, because how can there be any other suspects?
Furthermore, he concluded that Putin was solely focused on geopolitics and had no idea how to lead the country, the system was failing and it was struggling to survive, and he was one of those who face the consequences.
“It is often claimed that his sole focus anymore is geopolitics, that he doesn’t care about anything else. But that’s not true. He saw what happened in Khabarovsk, where people have been taking to the streets in protest for 80 days now and the Kremlin still has no idea what to do with them. The Kremlin realized they had to take extreme measures to prevent a “Belarusian scenario.” The system is fighting for survival and we have felt the consequences.”
Navalny said he will continue to travel through Russia, hopefully Putin gave up after one failed attempt. Regardless, if he ends up dead, it would be blamed on the Kremlin.
The opposition figure is also part of the pro-Western Russian elite, and spreading obviously false news of the misdemeanors of the “regime” is a very common practice, he simply needs to continue repeating them, as most of the interview is a sort of presentation into that.
This agenda is now, also, mainstream in Europe, as it is very apparent.
Navalny’s sole advantage in this situation is that he’s closely affiliated with the so-called “new aristocracy” in Russia, in addition to being the face of the “pro-Western democratic opposition leader,” he is also hard at work as a sort of puppet in propagating the international political games among the Russian elites. These include political “investigations”, very obvious political propaganda and additional somewhat “theatrical plays.”
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Since there were no evidence of poisoning in Russia and Germany refuses to release their supposed evidence, requested multiple times by Russia to start an investigation, the next case which will be investigated is national treason for Navalnyi.
I wonder by Navalnev cant be elected. Every time any opposition grow its removed. Thats hardly parlamentarisme but hooliganisme.
He can’t be elected because he is paid by Washington and everyone in Russia knows it.
Time for Russia to stop building of the vital Nord Stream 2 and let those filthy Europeans freze this winter. Ohh and don’t give them the Sputnik 5 either.
We wont freeze but as many others pollute and warm the world faster. For the wast majority og EU that gas seemes to best alternative replacement – for gas.
I love the fact that Moscow has just totally reverse-fisted both Washington and Brussels simultaneously with outing Navalny as a CIA asset.
If the Euro-Atlantic clowns insist on proof then other assets will be outed, assets probably close to mainstream European political and securocratic circles.
Your move creeps!
he, navalnyj, should either be ostracized for ever or be defenestrated if he gets back to russia, a country he, as a quisling, is in the process of betraying.
Russia is the only safe country for him, because the west wants to poison him to introduce more sanctions against Russia… they would do everything, even mass murders, the history is clear :)
Theatre.
Circus actually.
the germans are a US colony—Udo Ulfkotte
a puppet of western pedophile corporates (so called “democrats, liberals”) who sent and funded 200000 terorrists to Syria, just an inferior “human” being on the corporate payroll :)
evidences? why? :-D
An instructive episode showing why this stuff happens to Russia again and again, leaving the Kremlin critters scratching their heads why they can’t catch a break. Bullying Russia is good fun because your maniacal craving for acceptance is making you play along with it. Not to mention that a large part of Russian elites will eagerly extend a hand to help the latest Western provocation along, knowing that for a certain class of people there just aren’t any consequences. The Teddybear rushes to prove its innocence, requesting toxicological data from Germany which it won’t get (and which probably never existed to begin with). As if this were about facts: an earnest quest for the truth will get Russia nothing, because the narrative that matters will be set out in media which Russia does not control–like Der Spiegel above.
You’d be so much better off saying, if anything, “These stunts are games in domestic German and EU politics which do not concern us.” You want to add some bad-boy flair you could go “Even if we shot a Russian citizen like Navalny in broad daylight in Moscow, it’d still be none of your business.”
As another SouthFront article also asks, was it even the right move for Russia to take the completion of Nord Stream II upon itself, when Pompeo barking sent the Eurotrash running for the hills. Might’ve been better to show them their place by saying “Honor the contract already, or no gas for you.” I guess with so much else not going their way, Russia just was in no position to walk away, and the EU knew it.
Like with so much else, it all seems to boil down to Russia first putting its own house in order, but this is something the country just won’t do. Putin now seems to be at an age where he sees his duty as foremost guarding the status quo; how many terms is he still planning to hang in there?