The top Democrat and Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee wrote a letter to President Trump calling for an investigation into whether Russia used chemical weapons to poison opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Chairman Eliot Engel of New York and ranking member Michael McCaul of Texas sent the letter on Tuesday. The congressmen said that their request triggers part of the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991, which requires a 60-day evaluation period, and “if a determination is made that chemical weapons were used, a sanctions process is laid out under the Act.”
Navalny, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critics, suddenly became ill and fell unconscious during a flight in Siberia late in August. After initially being held by Russian doctors, he was released to Germany, where he is being treated.
German officials announced on Sept. 2 that Navalny was poisoned with the Soviet/Russian-produced nerve agent Novichok, the same nerve agent thought to have been used by Russian hit men to target former Soviet double agent Sergei Skripal in 2018.
Engel and McCaul said that the Trump administration hit Russia with sanctions following Skripal’s poisoning, which took place in England. They said that if Russia is behind the plot against Navalny, further sanctions against Putin’s government should be forthcoming.
“Those responsible for this despicable attack must be held accountable, and Russian President Vladimir Putin must know that he and his cronies will not be allowed to violate international law with impunity,” the congressmen wrote.
Navalny’s condition has improved some in the past few days. He emerged from a medically induced coma on Monday, although it is unclear how much long-term damage the Novichok might have done.
“The patient has been removed from his medically induced coma and is being weaned off mechanical ventilation,” Berlin’s Charite hospital said. ”He is responding to verbal stimuli. It remains too early to gauge the potential long-term effects of his severe poisoning.”
White House National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot said that the United States is “deeply troubled by the results released” by the Germans about Navalny’s poisoning and called the attack “completely reprehensible.”
