: The Kremlin Has Brushed Off Allegations Over Alexei Navalny’s Poisoning #WorldNEWS MOSCOW — The Kremlin brushed off allegations Tuesday that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was the

The Kremlin Has Brushed Off Allegations Over Alexei Navalny’s Poisoning #WorldNEWS
MOSCOW — The Kremlin brushed off allegations Tuesday that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was the victim of an intentional poisoning orchestrated by authorities and said there were no grounds for a criminal investigation so far since it hasnt been fully established what caused the politician to fall into a coma.
The Russian governments insistence that Navalny wasnt necessarily the victim of a deliberate poisoning comments amplified by Russian doctors and pro-Kremlin media — came a day after doctors at a German hospital where the 44-year-old is being treated said tests indicated he was poisoned.

Moscows dismissals elicited outrage from Navalnys allies, who claim the Kremlin was behind the illness of its most prominent critic.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the accusations against the government “absolutely cannot be true and are rather an empty noise. ”
“We do not intend to take it seriously, Peskov said.
Peskov said he saw no grounds for launching a criminal investigation at this stage, saying that Navalnys condition could have been triggered by a variety of causes and determining what it was should come first.
“If a substance (that caused the condition) is found, and if it is determined that it is poisoning, then there will be a reason for an investigation,” Peskov said.
Navalny, a politician and corruption investigator who is one of Putin’s fiercest critics, fell ill on a flight back to Moscow from Siberia on Thursday and was taken to a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk after the plane made an emergency landing.
Over the weekend, he was transferred to the Charité hospital in Berlin, where doctors on Monday said they have found indications of “cholinesterase inhibitors” in his system.
These act by blocking the breakdown of a key chemical in the body, acetycholine, that transmits signals between nerve cells. Navalny is being treated with the antidote atropine.
Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, has been visiting her husband daily and made no comment to reporters as she arrived Tuesday.
Chancellor Angela Merkel personally offered Germanys help in treating Navalny and has called for a full Russian investigation — a sentiment echoed Tuesday by officials from the United States, France and Norway.
U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that if reports about Navalny’s poisoning “prove accurate, the United States supports the (European Union’s) call for a comprehensive investigation and stands ready to assist in that effort. ”
On Tuesday, U. S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other diplomats.