Moscow
The Kremlin on Thursday accused opposition leader Alexei Navalny of working with the CIA and making “groundless and unacceptable statements” after he claimed President Vladimir Putin had orchestrated his poisoning with Novichok.
“I assert that Putin is behind this act, I don’t see any other explanation,” the anti-corruption campaigner told Der Spiegel in his first published interview since being discharged from a German hospital.
But Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov countered: “We believe that such charges against the Russian president are absolutely groundless and unacceptable.”
He also claimed that the CIA was “currently working” with Navalny, who studied at Yale University, but did not provide any evidence.
“It’s not the patient who is working with Western security services, it’s Western security services who are working with him,” the Kremlin spokesman said.
“I can even say directly that CIA instructors are currently working with him.” Navalny immediately said he would sue Peskov, accusing him of “talking nonsense.”
The 44-year-old also challenged the Kremlin to release “evidence and facts” proving his cooperation with the CIA.—AFP
