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Polish PM suggests Russia is 'hostile regime' after Navalny poisoning

04.09.2020 06:00
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki suggested Russia was a "hostile regime" after Germany’s Angela Merkel said that Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny had been poisoned with a Soviet-era Novichok nerve agent in an attempt to kill him.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.Photo: PAP/Łukasz Gągulski

"Georgia 2008. Crimea & Donbas since 2014. MH17. Salisbury 2018. Berlin 2019. Navalny 2020. How many wake-up calls do we need to finally realize that we are dealing with a hostile regime?" Morawiecki said on Twitter on Thursday.

"Dialogue, partnership, compromise - these are alien words to them. Time to draw conclusions," he added.

While Morawiecki did not specifically name Russia in his tweet, he referred to events in which Moscow is widely accused of involvement, news agencies reported.

'We strongly condemn this heinous act': Polish foreign ministry

The Polish foreign ministry tweeted on Thursday that it was "deeply concerned" that Navalny, a leading Russian opposition figure, had been poisoned with Novichok, a nerve agent that was "also used in the attack on Skripal."

"We strongly condemn this heinous act," the Polish foreign ministry said.

It added: "Those guilty of the attempted murder with the use of prohibited chemical warfare agent must be brought to justice. We wish Navalny a full recovery."

The European Union demanded a transparent probe into "the assassination attempt" on Navalny after toxicological analysis by a specialized German laboratory found traces of a military-grade chemical nerve agent in his body.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday that Navalny, who is in intensive care in a Berlin hospital, had been poisoned with a Soviet-era Novichok nerve agent in an apparent attempt to take his life.

Moscow denied involvement in the incident, with the Russian foreign ministry saying that Germany's assertion was not backed by evidence.

Novichok is the same highly toxic substance that Britain said was used against former Russian intelligence agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in an attack in the southern English town of Salisbury in March 2018.

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Source: PAP, IAR, Reuters