Lavrov: the Russian Federation has no legal grounds to open a criminal case on the situation with Navalny

14 September 2020


Western partners in the situation around Alexey Navalny have crossed all the boundaries of reason, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told in an interview with RTVI.


"As for this situation, it seems to me that our Western partners simply went beyond all decency, the limits of reason," he said, commenting on the situation around Navalny.

 

Criminal case


The Minister noted that the Russian Federation cannot take their word for it and open a criminal case on this situation, there are no legal grounds for this.


Lavrov also believes that Moscow has the right to doubt the correctness and professionalism of the West regarding the Navalny case.


According to the Foreign Minister, the West would have come up with a different reason for sanctions against the Russian Federation, if there was no such case.


"I agree with our political scientists who are convinced that if there hadn't been Alexey Navalny, they would have come up with something else as a reason for imposing additional sanctions," Lavrov said.

 

 

The actions of the pilots and medics


The Minister noted that the rescue of Navalny was possible not because of an accidental combination of circumstances, but thanks to the impeccable actions of Russian pilots and medics.


"One of our Western colleagues wrote that, as German doctors found out, Navalny "escaped by a miracle." Allegedly there was this most notorious "Novichok", but the Russian citizen was saved thanks to "a happy combination of circumstances". What kind of happy circumstances is this? First, the pilot immediately landed the plane, second, an ambulance was already on duty at the ramp, and third, the doctors immediately began to perform their professional duty," he said.


"This absolutely impeccable behavior of both pilots, doctors, and emergency services is presented as a "happy coincidence". That is, we are even denied that we are acting as we should. This is deeply embedded in the minds of those who compose such things," Lavrov said.

 

GSV "Russia - Islamic World"

Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry

Based on materials from TASS