Russia brushed off a call by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a full investigation into the suspected poisoning of Alexei Navalny, saying it's still not clear yet that the opposition leader was exposed to a toxic substance.
"If the substance is identified and it's shown to be a poisoning, that would be basis for an investigation," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a conference call Tuesday. For the moment, he said, it's up to doctors in the clinic in Germany where Navalny was taken over the weekend after falling ill on a flight in Siberia to determine what the Kremlin critic was exposed to.
Merkel called on Russia to "fully investigate this act" after doctors at Berlin's Charite hospital Monday reported that they found Navalny was poisoned. He remains in a medically induced coma there.
"We don't understand on what basis our German colleagues are in such a rush to use the word 'poisoning,'" Peskov said.
Peskov said the German announcement merely confirmed the findings of Russian doctors. "We didn't learn anything new from the Charite statement," he said.
When the Kremlin spoke to the physicians Monday, they confirmed they found depressed cholinesterase levels and treated Navalny with atropine, Peskov said. Charite said the suspected poison was from the cholinesterase-inhibitor group but that they would need more tests to identify it precisely.
Publicly, the Russian doctors who handled Navalny's treatment have said they ruled out poisoning as a cause of his illness, which they blamed on an unspecified metabolic disorder.
Navalny's allies have blamed Russia's security services for poisoning him. Peskov rejected those allegations as "empty noise we don't intend to take seriously."
