Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has told a German magazine that Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind his poisoning.
In excerpts of comments published Thursday in Der Spiegel, Navalny said, “I don’t have any other version of the explanation for this crime.”
The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the incident.
Navalny fell ill on an Aug. 20 flight and was initially hospitalized in the Siberian city of Omsk.
Russian doctors said they found no signs of poisoning. Navalny was later transferred to a hospital in Germany. Tests there showed that he had been poisoned by Novichok, a nerve agent developed in the former Soviet Union. The results were confirmed in subsequent tests conducted by laboratories in France and Sweden.
In 2018, this same type of nerve agent was also used to attack a former Russian spy in the United Kingdom.
Navalny is a frequent critic of Putin and has told Der Spiegel that he plans to return to Russia.
He told Der Spiegel, “My mission now is to continue to be a man without fear.” “And I’m not afraid.”
Navalny has been hospitalized for 32 days and his German doctors say he could make a full recovery.
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