Extract from ABC News
By Max Walden
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne has joined several of her counterparts in condemning the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and called on the Kremlin to perform a "thorough and transparent investigation".
Key points:
- The statement from world leaders says Mr Navalny's poisoning is "another grave blow against democracy" in Russia
- The UN human rights chief this week said a pattern of poisonings of Russian citizens was "profoundly disturbing"
- Medical officials in Germany say Mr Navalny may suffer long-term consequences from the severe poisoning
Australia, along with Germany, the US, UK, Italy, France, Japan and the European Union, said in a statement they were united in condemning the poisoning of Mr Navalny with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok, the use of which was confirmed by German medical experts.
"Any use of chemical weapons, anywhere, anytime, by anybody, under any circumstances whatsoever, is unacceptable and contravenes the international norms prohibiting the use of such weapons," the statement said.
Russia should "urgently and fully establish transparency on who is responsible for this abhorrent poisoning attack", the foreign ministers said, adding that bringing the perpetrators to justice was part of Russia's obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention.
The statement is reflective of growing international calls for accountability over the attack.
It also follows UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet's push for a probe this week.
Ms Bachelet said there had been a "profoundly disturbing" string of poisonings and "targeted assassination" of Russian citizens in the past two decades.
"It is not good enough to simply deny [Mr Navalny] was poisoned and deny the need for a thorough, independent, impartial and transparent investigation into this assassination attempt," Ms Bachelet said.
'Grave blow against democracy'
Mr Navalny was flown to Germany last month after becoming sick on a domestic flight in Russia on August 20.
German officials later confirmed he had been poisoned with Novichok — the same nerve agent used against former Russian military officer and British double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March 2018.
Mr Navalny's supporters believe the nerve agent was placed in his tea at a Siberian airport prior to take off.
The Kremlin has denied any involvement.
The 44-year-old came out of an induced coma after his condition improved in recent days but he remains in a serious condition.
An official from Charite hospital in Berlin, where Mr Navalny is being treated, said he was being weaned off a ventilator.
Spokeswoman Manuela Zingl said Mr Navalny was responding when spoken to, however she said the "long-term consequences of severe poisoning cannot be ruled out".
Critics accuse the Russian Government of being responsible for Novichok poisonings because of the nerve agent's origins, as well as its rare and sophisticated nature.
"It was developed as a chemical weapon, so a weapon of mass destruction," exiled Russian politician Ilya Ponomarev told the ABC last week.
Former Russian intelligence agent Alexander Litvinenko died in London in 2006 after drinking a tea laced with the rare radioactive substance polonium-210.
"This raises numerous questions," Ms Bachelet said.
"Navalny was clearly someone who needed state protection, even if he was a political thorn in the side of the Government," she added.
"This attack against opposition leader Navalny is another grave blow against democracy and political plurality in Russia," the statement from Minister Payne and her counterparts continued.
"It constitutes a serious threat to those men and women engaged in defending the political and civil freedoms that Russia herself has committed to guarantee."
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