State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin said that the West is using the situation with Alexei Navalny so that Russia cannot defend Belarus.
“The situation with Navalny happened at the height of the events in Belarus, when it was important for them that our country did not defend Belarus, so that they could intervene in the situation in Belarus and could behave there the same way as they did in Ukraine. We have a Union Treaty, and Belarus is a member of the CSTO, they did everything to first blame Russia and then start talking about sanctions in order to try to blockade our country and intervene themselves so freely into the situation in Belarus, realizing that that no one will come to help Belarus. They will not succeed”, – Volodin said on the air of the Russia 24 TV channel.
He noted that in the case of Navalny, for those who are behind this provocation, a person’s life is nothing. Volodin also stressed that the West will not be able to stop the development of the Russian Federation through provocations and sanctions.
“There are countries that do not want our development, because our country is becoming stronger. Russia is becoming a full-fledged player in the international arena. It has taken place. I don’t like it. Our economy is growing – they don’t like it, the power of the country is also not pleasant, therefore they are looking for any means to prevent this. But it’s good when there is a reason – as a rule, there is no such reason. Therefore, everything that is now being discussed in relation to Navalny, sanctions – it all has to do with provocation”, – Volodin said.
Provocations from foreign countries, Western powers, provocations from the United States of America, which are undoubtedly the puppeteer. And many countries, to the tune of the United States of America, perform this provocation. The purpose of the provocation is to stop the development of Russia through sanctions. It will not work, stressed the chairman of the State Duma.
Navalny was hospitalized in Omsk on August 20 after he fell ill on the plane. Based on the results of the examinations, the Omsk doctors called the main diagnosis a metabolic disorder, which caused a sharp change in blood sugar. It is not yet clear what caused it, but according to Omsk doctors, no poisons were found in Navalny’s blood and urine.
Later, Navalny was transported by plane to Germany. After that, the FRG government announced, citing military doctors, that Navalny had allegedly been poisoned with a substance from the Novichok group of toxic warfare agents. On Monday, the Cabinet of Ministers of the Federal Republic of Germany said that the conclusions of German experts were confirmed by the laboratories of Sweden and France, in parallel, at the request of Berlin, the OPCW is conducting its own research. In this regard, the Kremlin stated that Berlin did not inform Moscow of its findings, and the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that Russia was waiting for a response from Germany to an official request on this situation.
The FRG authorities did not earlier deny that the German intelligence service BND had access to the Novichok military poisoning agent since the 1990s. One of the developers of the chemical warfare agent, Leonid Rink, has already stated that the data on the alleged poisoning of Navalny by a new variety of Novichok is nonsense, since there were no symptoms of poisoning with this substance.
On the day of Navalny’s hospitalization, the prosecutor’s office and the police began to conduct their checks. The Russian Embassy in Berlin said that they expect the German side to respond as quickly as possible to the request of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office of August 27 for legal assistance in the Navalny case. The RF IC had previously sent a statement from Navalny’s supporters to the West Siberian Department for verification that they had allegedly attempted to kill him. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov noted that de facto investigative actions on the situation with Navalny are underway, if the presence of a poisonous substance is confirmed, the investigation will be open and de jure.
Massive opposition protests began across Belarus on August 9, after the presidential elections, which, according to the CEC, the incumbent Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko won for the sixth time, gaining 80.1% of the vote. In the first days, the actions were suppressed by the security forces; against the protesters who did not agree with the results, they used tear gas, water cannons, stun grenades, and rubber bullets. According to official data, over 6,700 people were detained in the first days. As reported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic, then during the riots, hundreds of people were injured, among them over 130 law enforcement officers. The authorities reported the deaths of three protesters.
Lukashenko has repeatedly stated that the protests in Belarus are controlled from Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic and Ukraine.