Commentary: Questions from the Kremlin and solutions from the EU within the Navalny poisoning case | Comments from DW Reviewers and Guest Contributors | DW

Since the primary information of the poisoning of Alexei Navalny emerged, pro-Kremlin audio system have proposed and proceed to supply many conflicting variations of what occurred. There can be no level in being attentive to them if Russia didn’t demand that every one this be mentioned formally and on the highest degree. So, on September 15, the everlasting mission of Russia to the European Union formally printed an inventory of inquiries to those that accuse the nation’s management and particular companies of the poisoning of Alexei Navalny.

Russian questions for the sake of questions

It is straight away evident that there might be no solutions to a lot of the questions just because these usually are not a lot questions as sophisms within the type of “have you ever already stopped ingesting cognac within the morning”?

“Was it a coincidence that some of the people who accompanied Mr. Navalny on his trip to Siberia immediately left Russia for Germany after the incident?” The authors of the questionnaire transparently trace on the model standard within the pro-Kremlin media. Its essence is that if Navalny was poisoned, it was achieved by his colleague Maria Pevchikh, who, because it turned recognized right now, took the very bottle with traces of the toxic substance to Germany.

It is totally incomprehensible what reply to this query could possibly be given in Europe, and the way he might refute or show something within the case of the poisoning of Alexei Navalny.

Murder not rated

But way more exceptional and in some methods much more scandalous is one other standard thesis of Russian propaganda, reproduced within the official questionnaire: “What is the explanation that the Russian authorities are” hounding “Alexei Navalny, provided that his actual degree of recognition is unlikely to succeed in 2%, in line with An try and hyperlink the recognition of a politician along with his poisoning inevitably raises a counter query: what degree of recognition does the Russian authorities think about a ample motive for poisoning?

Unfortunately, Navalny is way from the primary individual to be suspected of involvement within the tried homicide by the Russian authorities. Boris Nemtsov, Sergei Skripal, Alexander Litvinenko, Emelyan Gebrev, Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr., Pyotr Verzilov, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili – the entire checklist of suspicious deaths and assassination makes an attempt over the previous 20 years is for much longer.

It is simple to see that every one these persons are united not by a excessive ranking and never by their actual risk to the prevailing regime in Russia. What unites them is that every of them ultimately irritated the Russian authorities or the management of the particular companies. And with this strategy, Navalny seems to be like a totally logical sufferer of the assassination try. It seems to be ridiculous simply assertions that the Russian authorities didn’t even have something to do with “blogger” Navalny.

Navalny’s total life lately consisted of felony instances, searches, arrests, harassment within the official media, hooligan antics in opposition to him, which nobody was going to research, and the demonstrative consideration of the particular companies. Needless to say, all that is not possible with out approval from the very high? If pouring inexperienced paint over the face of an oppositionist is taken into account a suitable type of influencing him, then using “Novichok” doesn’t look so illogical in any respect, does it not?

European response to the Kremlin

The rationalization for all of the sophistry printed by the Russian facet is easy: as within the case of the Malaysian Boeing shot down over Donbass, increasingly more variations of what occurred are generated, and Germany, Europe and the world neighborhood are required to examine every of them. The refusal to do that has sparked a brand new flurry of hypothesis about “double requirements.” The proven fact that the proposed variations contradict one another and customary sense doesn’t hassle anybody. The predominant factor is to create the sensation that there are lots of variations, and they are often interpreted in numerous methods.

In the case of flight MH17, this strategy helped create the opinion amongst at the least a part of the viewers that “every part is just not so easy.” But this time the state of affairs is totally different. First, Navalny survived and might independently current the model that he believes to be appropriate and change into a key witness within the case of his poisoning. Secondly, this time there are extra compelling causes for accusations in opposition to the Russian authorities. Third, the worldwide neighborhood has discovered who it’s coping with and has constantly insisted on an official and accountable dialogue of the details, ignoring the Kremlin’s invites to the sophistry competitors.

“The EU has made it very clear that it expects from the Russian authorities an pressing clear investigation in full cooperation with the OPCW. All questions have to be thought-about and answered throughout the framework of procedural guidelines and timelines, and never via a public alternate of” questionnaires, “the spokesman mentioned. EU Foreign Service Peter Stano in response to DW’s request for touch upon EU official Russian points.

Author: Fyodor Krasheninnikov is a Russian political scientist and publicist, writer of the books “After Russia” and “Cloudy Democracy”, which he wrote along with Leonid Volkov. Telegram: @fyodorkTwitter: @fyodorrrrr

The commentary expresses the private opinion of the writer. It could not coincide with the opinion of the Russian editorial workers and Deutsche Welle typically

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