Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for a “full and transparent investigation” into the apparent poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, setting up another dispute with the Kremlin just as Pompeo’s top deputy heads to Moscow.
“Mr. Navalny’s family and the Russian people deserve to see a full and transparent investigation carried out and for those involved to be held accountable,” Pompeo said Tuesday.
German doctors in Berlin on Monday announced they had diagnosed Navalny as the victim of a poisoning after his evacuation from the hospital in Siberia where he had been treated since falling ill last Thursday. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s team downplayed the findings, but Western officials have grown more emphatic in identifying the case as the latest example in a series of apparent assassinations or attempted slayings of critics of the longtime Russian leader.
“The European Union strongly condemns what seems to be an attempt on Mr. Navalny’s life,” European Union High Representative Josep Borrell said Monday. “The Russian people, as well as the international community, are demanding the facts behind Mr. Navalny’s poisoning. Those responsible must be held to account.”
Putin’s team maintained that such allegations are premature. “So far, all we can say is that the patient is in a coma,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “If the substance is established and if it is established that this is poisoning, then, of course, this will be a cause for investigation.”
Those dueling statements were released as Deputy Secretary of State Steve Biegun is on a diplomatic swing through the former Soviet empire, including a stop in Moscow this week.
“The United States is deeply concerned by reported preliminary conclusions from German medical experts that Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny was poisoned,” Pompeo said. “If the reports prove accurate, the United States supports the EU’s call for a comprehensive investigation and stands ready to assist in that effort.”
