Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio on
Monday urged Russia to punish "those responsible" for what
Germany says was the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
Di Maio said "we are deeply indignant" at the alleged poisoning
with Novichok, the same nerve agent used in the poisoning of a
former Russian spy in Britain in 2018.
"We condemn what we deem a crime, which calls into question the
capacity and the will of the Russian political system to bring
those responsible to justice," said Di Maio.
Berlin's Charité Hospital said Monday Navalny's condition had
improved and he had been removed form a chemically induced coma.
It said on Twitter: "the condition of Alexei #Navalny has
improved. The patient has been removed from his medically
induced coma and is being weaned off mechanical ventilation. He
is responding to verbal stimuli".
But it cautioned: "It remains too early to gauge the potential
long-term effects of his severe poisoning".
Navalny is the leading figure in Russia's extraparliamentary
opposition.
He is a strong critic of President Vladimir Putin.
Navalny, 44, who fell ill on a flight to Moscow, was flown to
Berlin where Chancellor Angela Merkel has said it is case of
attempted murder, clearly aimed at silencing the fierce Kremlin
critic.
The Kremlin has said it is unable to give a proper response to
the findings of the Berlin doctors, who say the same nerve agent
used on the Skripols in Salisbury was used on Navalny.
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