The Russian Embassy in Canada has rejected the government's allegations regarding European countries' allegations of poisoning the late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, TASS reports.
"We completely reject the accusations of the Canadian side. They are baseless and unproven. The Canadian government is engaging in politicking using a person's death. This is cynical and immoral," said a statement by the Russian Ambassador to Canada, Oleg Stepanov, published by the embassy's press service on February 15.
"Furthermore, the Canadian government has no right to comment on Russia's internal affairs. "Russia does not interfere in Canada's internal affairs and calls on Canada to adhere to the same principle," the Russian ambassador stressed.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the report by five European allies accusing Russia of killing Navalny with the help of a toxin from poisonous frogs "alarming."
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS that these allegations were a fabrication aimed at diverting attention from the pressing problems facing Western countries.
Navalny, Russia's most popular opposition leader, died suddenly in prison in the Arctic Circle on February 16, 2024, at the age of 47. In 2020, he was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok, undergoing treatment in Germany and arrested at the airport upon his return to Russia.
Yulia Navalnaya has repeatedly accused Russia of killing him, a claim the Kremlin rejects as absurd.
In September last year, Navalnaya said that foreign laboratory tests of biological samples obtained from her husband showed that he had been poisoned. She did not provide details about the type of poison or the analysis performed.