Kremlin says there are no grounds for investigating Navalny’s poisoning, calls talk of an attack ‘empty noise’

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on Tuesday, August 25, that the Putin administration is aware of no grounds for launching a criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the poisoning of opposition politician Alexey Navalny.

Peskov told reporters that it is first necessary to determine the substance that caused Navalny to fall into a coma. “There needs to be a reason to open an investigation. For now, we note that the patient is in a coma,” said Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, adding that there would be cause for a criminal investigation only if doctors are able to identify a toxin and confirm that Navalny was poisoned. Peskov also said allegations that Navalny may have been attacked are simply “empty noise.”

The Kremlin’s spokesman also dismissed an announcement by the Charité Hospital in Berlin, where the German physicians now treating Navalny say “clinical findings indicate poisoning with a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors.” This information only repeats what doctors in Omsk already knew, said Peskov.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, and EU High Representative Josep Borrell have called for an open and independent investigation into the circumstance surrounding Navalny’s poisoning, demanding that those responsible be held accountable.