MOSCOW, September 1. /TASS/: The Western countries’ allegations that Russia does not investigate the situation concerning the hospitalization of Russian blogger Alexey Navalny are not true, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, speaking before the MGIMO students and professors Tuesday.
"We are being accused of not investigating this situation. This is not true. Starting the very day this happened, our Interior Ministry initiated a pre-investigative inspections; the investigation may begin once it determines, what exactly has happened," he said.
It is yet undetermined what exactly happened to Navalny, and the German medics are currently unable to provide this information to Moscow, Lavrov noted.
"We are now faced with demands that the Omsk medics present their conclusions immediately, that we conduct an investigation of Navalny’s coma. As you remember, he stayed in Omsk for slightly over 24 hours, and all our Western colleagues have already raised alarms about no information regarding this case. Well, finally, he has been in German for over a week now, but the German medics provide no information as well. Therefore, more time is needed, but nobody issues any demands to them, nobody condemns them for trying to hide the truth," he added.
The Foreign Minister also reminded that Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office sent a request to Germany for legal aid in the inspection of Navanly’s hospitalization.
Alexey Navalny was hospitalized in Omsk on August 20 after his health deteriorated rapidly during his flight from Tomsk to Moscow. For over 24 hours, he stayed in coma and plugged to a ventilator. On August 22, he was transferred to the Charite clinic in Germany. On August 24, the medics reported that traces of an unknown substance from the cholinesterase inhibitors group have been discovered in his body; however, the exact substance remains unknown. The medics noted that, while Navalny’s life is under no threat, long-term consequences for his nervous system are possible.
On August 20, the Western Siberian Transport Prosecutor’s Office initiated a pre-investigation inspection of the Navalny’s hospitalization in Omsk.
