Germany is investigating the possible poisoning of two Russian exiles who attended a conference in Berlin in late April organized by Russian Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Berlin police have acknowledged to Reuters the "opening of a file" after German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, citing Russian investigative media group Agentstvo, reported that two women reported symptoms suggesting possible poisoning.
The first information indicates that one of the women is a journalist and that she showed the first symptoms before the conference held on April 29 and 30.
The second affected would be Natalia Arno, director of the NGO Free Russia Foundation. According to what she herself has recounted on her Facebook page, when she returned to her hotel, she noticed that the door of her room was "ajar." And, after going to bed, the next thing she remembers is waking up at 5 in the morning, "with sharp pain and strange symptoms."
The German Security Forces keep the investigation secret and keep all the hypotheses open as several poisonings against opponents of the Kremlin have been registered in recent years both on Russian territory and outside it.
The most publicized case is that of the Russian opponent Alexei Navalni who was poisoned with a nerve agent during a campaign trip to Siberia in 2020, according to analyzes carried out by various European medical institutions.
The Kremlin denied its involvement. "Regarding the Navalny case, the new lists include agents and high-ranking officers of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB, for its acronym in Russian) and Russian chemical weapons experts," the EU said in a statement. .
Navalni, the most prominent domestic critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was detained when he returned to Russia in early 2021 after months of medical treatment in Germany. He is currently serving prison terms totaling 11 1/2 years for fraud, contempt of court and violation of probation, all of which he rejects as trumped-up charges designed to silence him.
The Russian opponent has long been a thorn in Putin's side, campaigning against endemic corruption in Russia in witty and cleverly produced videos that drew huge international audiences on social media.
