Western intelligence agencies have long known the Novichok formula
Russia's accusations of poisoning blogger Alexei Navalny with the Novichok chemical agent are unfounded.
This was stated by Yaroslav Levin, a candidate of historical sciences and author of research on the work of the special services, in a commentary to Komsomolskaya Pravda, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“So far, we hear only unfounded accusations against Russia, just like in the Skripal case two years ago. However, prosecutors forget that Novichok was developed during the Cold War, and its general structure has been known for quite some time. Thus, the Soviet chemist Vil Mirzayanov, who later became a dissident and emigrated to the United States, published the formula of this and other poisons in his book of memoirs,” the expert believes.
He believes that Western intelligence services, having gained access to many Soviet developments after 1991, are trying to reproduce Novichok in their own laboratories.”
“And it is very possible that they succeeded - for example, there was information about successful experiments of this kind in the Czech Republic,” the publication’s interlocutor noted.
He also noted that the results of the German examination speak specifically about the substance of the Novichok group.
“What does “group substance” mean? If you know the formula only in general terms, then it is logical that the output is not an exact copy of the original, but something “based on it.” Finally, Western intelligence agencies also have their own chemical weapons with a very similar effect, called sarin or VX. The investigation into the “Navalny case” is being conducted in an extremely opaque manner; any developed country could have created such a poison,” Levin concluded.
In turn, the head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin, said yesterday that Omsk doctors conducted the most in-depth set of studies and examinations using the most modern equipment, according to the most stringent medical protocols, and they did not find any signs of the presence of toxic substances in Alexei Navalny’s body.
“The fact is that at the time Alexei Navalny flew out of Russian territory, his body did not contain any toxic poisonous substances,” Naryshkin said.
The head of the SVR also added that in this regard, Russia “of course, has many questions for the German side.”
As a reminder, Russian blogger Alexei Navalny was hospitalized on August 20. He fell ill on board a plane en route from Tomsk to Moscow, forcing an emergency landing at Omsk Airport.
A couple of days later, Navalny was flown on a private jet to the German Charité clinic, where local doctors quickly diagnosed him with poisoning. The doctors later stated that the blogger had been poisoned with the Novichok nerve agent, but refused to provide evidence to the Russian authorities.
Western intelligence agencies have long known the formula for Novichok.