Russia accuses Germany of obstructing probe in Navalny case

Russia on Friday accused Germany of refusing to cooperate in a probe into the case of poisoned Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. The German government is violating the 1959 European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.  

The ministry said that doctors in Siberia had passed on information to their colleagues in Berlin — where Navalny is currently recovering — and that Russia was ready to collaborate for the sake of Navalny's "speedy recovery."

"Unfortunately, in response we received a categorical refusal from the German government to cooperate in establishing the truth about the situation with Alexei Navalny," the statement read.

Read more: German Minister of State on Navalny poisoning: 'Breach of international law'

The ministry in its accusation also cited unanswered requests for mutual legal assistance from the Russian authorities.

'Anti-Russian hysteria in the West'

Navalny collapsed on a flight from Siberia to Moscow last month. According to laboratories in Germany, France and Sweden, he was poisoned with Novichok, a Soviet military-grade nerve agent.

The anti-corruption activist's supporters have called it a state-sanctioned poisoning.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was "anti-Russian hysteria in the West" that led to the conclusion Navalny had been poisoned with a banned warfare agent.

The Kremlin insists that medical tests carried out by its doctors found no poison in Navalny's body.

The Foreign Ministry also questioned the actions of the technical secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and accused it of being drawn into "political intrigues."

dvv/sri (AFP, dpa)