On August 25, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the diagnosis from Charite Hospital Berlin, Germany, about the health of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny did not show that he was definitely poisoned.
The spokesperson also commented on the rumors of Kremlin complicity in the Alexei Navalny case.
"We cannot take your accusations seriously. These accusations have absolutely nothing to do with the truth and are just empty words, Sputnik quoted Peskov as saying to the press.
The spokesman added that the Kremlin did not understand why the German doctors had such a quick conclusion.
"We don't understand why our German colleagues are rushing to use the word 'poison' in the first place. This is also one of the first possibilities that our doctors are considering, but I repeat, the exact quality is still unknown," said Mr. Peskov.
DW quoted a statement from Charite Hospital on August 24 saying that initial tests showed that the Russian opposition leader may have been poisoned by a substance in the group of chemicals that inhibit cholinesterase, but it was not yet determined exactly which poison was.
Mr. Peskov noted that the analysis of Russian and German doctors is similar, but the two sides have different conclusions. Russian doctors detected low cholinesterase in the first hours after Navalny was hospitalized and immediately gave him atropine - a detox drug currently used by doctors in Berlin.
The Kremlin spokesman said there was no basis to conduct an investigation into Navalny's poisoning allegations, adding that an investigation could only be conducted if the poisoning was confirmed.
"That substance must be found first, to understand the cause of this condition. There needs to be a basis for investigation. Currently, we are only seeing a coma patient. The most important thing right now is to help Navalny recover, Peskov said.
Earlier, on the same day, August 25, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Josep Borrell, urged Russia to conduct an investigation into the opposition political leader's illness. "Preliminary inspection results from Charite Hospital - in Berlin show that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned during his time in Siberia... The Russian government is forced to conduct an independent, transparent and unted investigation into the poisoning case," Borrell said.
Opposition leader Alexei Navalny was hospitalized in Omsk after his plane made an emergency landing on August 20, suspected of poisoning. Russian doctors found no traces of the poison in the test sample and believe his condition was due to sudden hypoglycemia related to metabolic imbalance.
On August 22, Alexei Navalny was transferred to Berlin for further treatment. According to a statement from Omsk Hospital doctor Aleksander Murakhovsky, German doctors said in a letter that Navalny's condition was stable but serious and thanked his Russian colleagues for saving his life.
