The US has no connection with the joint statement published by several European countries on the alleged poisoning of blogger Alexei Navalny. Washington has not participated in the investigation. This was stated by US Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio at a joint press conference with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in Bratislava.
„These countries came to this conclusion, they coordinated“, the Secretary of State said in response to a question on the subject. „It was not our job . It was their report and they published it.“
According to Rubio, the United States is aware of the report and “does not dispute it“.
On February 14, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden and France issued a joint statement. In it, they claimed that Navalny was poisoned with epibatidine - a poison extracted from the skin of the Ecuadorian poison dart frog. This conclusion was based on the analysis of samples of Navalny's biomaterial. Representatives of the aforementioned countries therefore accused Russia of an alleged violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS that these allegations are fabrications aimed at diverting attention from the pressing problems facing Western countries.