A National Security Council (NSC) spokesman condemned Russia for their alleged involvement in the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday.
(1 of 3) “The United States is deeply troubled by the results released today. Alexei Navalny’s poisoning is completely reprehensible. Russia has used the chemical nerve agent Novichok in the past.
— NSC (@WHNSC) September 2, 2020
“The United States is deeply troubled by the results released today,” said NSC spokesman John Ullyot, referring to the German government’s confirmation that Navalny was poisoned using a Soviet-era nerve agent called Novichok.
Ullyot called the poisoning “completely reprehensible” and said the United States “will work with allies and the international community to hold those in Russia accountable, wherever the evidence leads, and restrict funds for their malign activities.”
“The Russian people have a right to express their views peacefully without fear of retribution of any kind, and certainly not with chemical agents,” Ullyot concluded. (RELATED: German Government Says Navalny Was Poisoned)
Earlier Wednesday, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert stated a German military laboratory had found there was “unequivocal evidence” that Navalny was poisoned.
“It is a shocking event that Alexei Navalny has become the victim of an attack with a chemical nerve agent in Russia,” Seibert said in the statement given via email. “[T]he federal government condemns this attack in the strongest terms.”
The statement from Ullyot also noted that “Russia has used the chemical nerve agent Novichok in the past.”
Two years ago, Russian dissident Sergei Skripal and his daughter survived an attempted Novichok poisoning in the United Kingdom.