There were no toxic substances in Navalny’s body when he was in Russia: Intel chief

MOSCOW, Oct 8, 2020, TASS. Moscow has confirmation that there were no toxic substances in the body of Alexey Navalny while he was in Russia, Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin told TASS on Thursday (Oct 8).

“We can assert that there were no toxic substances in his body at the time when blogger Navalny was in Russia. This is an indisputable fact. Russia has confirmation in the form of samples of Navalny’s biological material,” he stressed.

The director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service dismissed remarks by blogger Alexey Navalny that he was allegedly poisoned by the Russian special services as Russophobic propaganda. “One hardly expected something resembling the truth from that person,” he said when asked to comment on Navalny’s statements. “That’s why I believe it is pointless to comment on such blatant Russophobic propaganda.”

Navalny earlier claimed that he could only be poisoned by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) or the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) on instructions from Russian President Vladimir Putin, since the Novichok agent is difficult to obtain.