The Kremlin called Navalny a CIA agent
Opposition blogger Alexei Navalny, who was allegedly poisoned and is being treated in Germany, is following instructions from Western intelligence services.
This was announced today by the press secretary of the Russian President, Dmitry Peskov, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“I will say this: it is not the patient who works with Western intelligence services, but the Western intelligence services that work with him. It will be more correct this way. Indeed, there is information. I can even say more specifically: US CIA specialists are working with him. This is not the first time he has been given different instructions,” Peskov said.
He also commented on the blogger’s accusations against the Russian president (Navalny said in an interview with SPIEGEL magazine that Vladimir Putin was directly involved in his poisoning).
“We believe that such accusations against the Russian President are absolutely groundless and unacceptable. We consider a number of these statements offensive and also unacceptable. We want to investigate the case of the Berlin patient and establish the reasons for what happened. To do this, we need information from those who found traces of poisoning in the tests,” said the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation.
He does not consider Navalny’s decision to return to Russia heroic.
“Any citizen can return to his homeland at any time. There is no heroism here. And treatment can be done in our country. Almost all people do this. They save lives in our country. And the life of this patient was also saved in Russia,” Peskov said.
The Kremlin saw in the scandalous interview an attempt by the blogger to put himself on the same level as the president.
“Such rhetoric, which borders on insults, is a well-known method of those who want to put themselves on the same level as the first person. And claim some kind of participation in the political struggle.
The president's real competitors in the political struggle are other people. They are not quasi, not marginal, but real opposition. That is why we do not consider it possible to participate in any discussion in the future and will not make any statements in this regard,” Peskov said.
The Kremlin has labeled Navalny a CIA agent.