Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Navalny says Russian agent has admitted to role in death plot

Navalny says Russian agent has admitted to role in death plot

One of the operatives allegedly involved in the attempt to kill Alexei Navalny has confessed to his role in the plot, and has revealed that the Russian opposition leader was apparently poisoned via his underwear.
Navalny phoned two members of the team from Russia’s FSB spy agency, which allegedly tried to murder him. One recognised him immediately and hung up. The second operative, Konstantin Kudryavtsev, was seemingly duped into thinking he was talking to an aide working for a top FSB general.

The call was made hours before the investigative website Bellingcat published details last week of the eight FSB officers who allegedly poisoned Navalny.

Navalny survived the attempt to kill him in August and is recuperating in Germany.

Posing as “Maxim Ustinov”, a fictional aide, Navalny asked Kudryavtsev for details of the operation and demanded to know what had gone wrong.

Unaware that he was being spoofed, Kudryavtsev apparently confirmed the FSB was behind the poisoning. Navalny was told the agent’s colleagues had applied novichok to the “inner seams” of the opposition leader’s boxer shorts, when Navalny was staying in the Siberian city of Tomsk.

A reconnaissance team had previously visited the Xander hotel and switched off the CCTV cameras, Kudryavtsev said. Once the all-clear had been given, operatives deployed the poison. It had been previously thought Navalny may have been exposed to the nerve agent through a cup of tea or a cocktail.

It now appears likely the novichok was administered in the form of a spray or an ointment, either via the hotel’s laundry service or by FSB officers sneaking into Navalny’s hotel room. The boxer shorts came back from the laundry on 18 August, two days before he collapsed.

Early on 20 August, Navalny wore the poisoned pants. He then travelled to Tomsk airport and boarded a flight to Moscow. Soon after takeoff he fell violently ill and collapsed. The plane made an emergency landing in Omsk and Navalny was taken to hospital and put on a ventilator.

Asked why he survived, Navalny was told it was probably because his plane had made an emergency landing. If he had continued to Moscow – a journey of another three hours – he would probably not have survived, Kudryavtsev said. There were “lots of unknowns and nuances”, he added.

Kudryavtsev said he was sent to Omsk five days later to retrieve and sanitise Navalny’s clothes, including his underwear, to make sure all traces of novichok had been removed. On the call he told Navalny that the cleanup operation had been done effectively.

Navalny has demanded the return of his clothes from Russia. In September he complained that the FSB had destroyed possible evidence of its crime. He was airlifted from Russia to Berlin “completely naked”, he said.

“Considering novichok was found on my body, and that infection through contact is very likely, my clothes are a very important piece of evidence,” he said. “I demand that my clothes be carefully packed in a plastic bag and returned to me.”

After his collapse, colleagues from Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation bagged up items from his hotel room. Video taken at the Xander hotel shows them collecting empty water bottles, gingerly handling them using plastic gloves. These were sent to Germany for analysis.

Kudryavtsev told Navalny there were no traces of novichok on the bottles. According to Bellingcat, Kudryavtsev travelled to Omsk twice in the aftermath of the poisoning: once on 25 August and a second time on 2 October 2020. Phone records show he was in regular contact with Col Stanislav Makshakov, the FSB officer who allegedly supervised the operation.

European laboratories confirmed Navalny was poisoned with novichok, the nerve agent used in Salisbury against Sergei and Yulia Skripal. The apparent use of clothing as a delivery mechanism may explain why it took several hours for the poison to take effect – and why Navalny ultimately survived.

Last week Bellingcat identified three FSB operatives from a clandestine unit who travelled alongside Navalny to the Siberian city of Novosibirsk. They included two medical doctors – Alexey Alexandrov and Ivan Osipov – and Vladimir Panyaev, whose role appears to have been reconnaissance. The trio followed Navalny to Tomsk.

According to Bellingcat, citing flight and telecoms data, at least five other FSB operatives were involved. Its latest report mentions two further names, including a local chief in the FSB’s department who was photographed in the Omsk hospital where Navalny was treated.

On Friday, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, acknowledged the FSB had tailed Navalny on multiple trips but said this was necessary since he was working for US intelligence – a claim Navalny denies.

Moscow has said it is yet to see evidence of a crime and declined to open an investigation. It suggests Navalny was poisoned in Germany, or while on board the medical evacuation plane that took him in a coma to Berlin.

Officially, Russia has destroyed its chemical weapons. Last week, however, Bellingcat, identified three state-run institutes that appear to be behind a covert nerve agent programme. All communicated closely with GRU operatives linked to the Salisbury plot.

One appears to have developed novel “nano-encapsulation techniques”. This “relatively new technology could permit a lethal toxin to be ‘packaged’ within a veneer of another substance, allowing both obfuscation and delayed onset of the poison,”
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
EU Proposes Phasing Out Russian Oil and Gas by End of 2027 to End Energy Dependence
More Than 150,000 Followers for a Fictional Character: The New Influencers Are AI Creations
EU Prepares for War
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Big Tech Executives Laud Trump at White House Dinner, Unveil Massive U.S. Investments
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
‘Looks Like a Wig’: Online Users Express Concern Over Kate Middleton
Florida’s Vaccine Revolution: DeSantis Declares War on Mandates
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
"The Situation Has Never Been This Bad": The Fall of PepsiCo
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
The Fashion Designer Who Became an Italian Symbol: Giorgio Armani Has Died at 91
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Druzhba Pipeline Incident Sparks Geopolitical Tensions
Cost of Opposition Leader Péter Magyar's Economic Plan Revealed
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
Poland's Offshore Wind Sector Attracts Investors
×